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THE CHILDREN'S CITY 




Copyright. Tlie Pictorial News Co. 



Curtis flying over the Statue of Liberty at the end of hi' 
flight from Albany to New York, May, igro. 



THE 
CHILDREN'S CITY 



BY 

ESTHER SINGLETON 

AUTHOR OF "dutch NEW YORK," "SOCIAL NEW YORK UNDER THE 
GEORGES," "THE GOLDEN ROD FAIRY BOOK," ETC.,_ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 



flew l^orft 
STURGIS & WALTON 

COMPANY 
1910 



r 



Copyright 1910 
By STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1910 



CCI.A2.S01 55 



PREFACE 

This little book, each chapter telling of one of 
the walks, or jaunts, in or about the city, of two 
children and an older companion, is intended to help 
young people, their governesses, tutors, or mentors 
to an enjoyment and appreciation of the pleasures 
of New York that are free to all. And it may 
serve too, as a guide for adults who would become 
acquainted at first hand with what is most interest- 
ing and most easily accessible in our American 
metropolis. In it attention is always directed to 
what especially appeals to young eyes, and the in- 
formation offered is of the kind for which youthful 
minds and imaginations have naturally a keen ap- 
petite. 

Opening with a brief, sketchy account of Dutch, 
English, and Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary 
New York, the chapters that follow are given to 
excursions by land and water in which the historical 
landmarks and natural beauties of the city are the 
theme — trips down the bay, or to parks and pleas- 
ure-grounds; to excursions to the museums; to 
visits to the Zoological Park, the Botanical Garden, 
the Aquarium, etc., etc. 

Many generations of children have taken their 
way " unwillingly to school " and gained knowledge 
in dull drudgery, hearing their elders unsympa- 
thetically repeat : " There is no royal road to 
learning." At the present day, however, parents 



PREFACE 

and teachers often turn work into play by smooth- 
ing the rough road of the pursuit of knowledge and 
making education a pleasure instead of a toil. One 
of the most popular as well as successful ways of 
arousing the interest of children in what they should 
know is that of taking them individually, or in 
classes to galleries, museums, historic sites, and 
other places of interest, and let them see for them- 
selves the arts and crafts of the human brain and 
hand, and the wonders of Nature, — animal, vege- 
table and mineral. Children are inveterate ques- 
tioners, and the answers they receive and the objects 
to which their attention is directed often leave a 
more lasting impression on their minds than the les- 
sons they learn from mere text-books. No city in 
America offers so good an opportunity for a liberal 
education by intelligent observation and sympa- 
thetic description as New York. Though it has no 
remote historical antiquities, it has quite a respec- 
table age of three centuries, with landmarks of the 
past sure to kindle children's patriotism if pre- 
sented in the right light by one who knows about 
them. And its galleries, museums, and zoological 
and botanical exhibitions are of the first value and 
of the liveliest interest to juvenile visitors. 

In taking children to visit museums or collections 
of living curiosities, much time is often consumed 
in pausing long in front of objects that have com- 
paratively little interest for the juvenile mind, be- 
fore moving on to the chief attractions, or the most 
valuable possessions of the special exhibition. 
Therefore, it is only natural that fatigue should 
conquer the mind and limbs long before the best 
exhibits of the collection have been visited. 

On the other hand, people often try to see the 



PREFACE 

whole of a great collection on one visit, dragging 
the poor children that accompany them from gal- 
lery to gallery, from corridor to corridor, or from 
cage to cage, trying to discover what they take 
interest in, or, what is worse, trying to cram them 
hurriedly with information and bewildering their 
minds with too many impressions too rapidly re- 
ceived. 

It is hoped that in this series of imaginary outings 
of two children and their companion, some hints 
may be found for other children who would like 
to follow in their footprints and see and enjoy what 
this city offers in the way of free and instructive 
pleasures. 

It will be noted that the three people in this book 
always start out in an unwearied and happy mood, 
and talk about what they see in a perfectly natural 
and off-hand manner; and that the cicerone who 
takes the children on these trips does not attempt to 
show them everything, but selects only the most 
famous, striking, peculiar, or beautiful objects that 
are offered for exhibition, or those that naturally 
and particularly attract the attention of the chil- 
dren. 

In several cases, it would require much endurance 
to cover all the ground or to see all the objects al- 
lotted to one visit. Those who follow in the foot- 
steps of Doodle and the children, will, therefore, 
use their own judgment and make two or several 
visits instead of one as described. 

The illustrations in this volume will tend to make 
prospective juvenile visitors to the places repre- 
sented eager to see them, and will serve pleasantly 
to recall what has been seen. 

I wish to express my thanks to the Directors of 



PREFACE 

the Zoological Park for valuable information most 
courteously supplied, to the Directors of the New 
York Botanical Garden and of the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History for their kind permission 
to reproduce photographs; also to Miinsey's Maga- 
zine for the loan of the old prints from which two 
of the illustrations in the first chapter are made, and 
for permission to reproduce from its pages the view 
of New York in 1740. 

E. S. 
New York, October, 19 10. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY 

In Which the Reader is Introduced to Three New 
Friends Who Have Not the Slightest Idea That 
They are Being Observed ; and in Which the Au- 
thor and Reader Overhear Their Three New 
Friends Make Plans For Some Pleasant Outings 
and Learn Something About the Founding, Growth 
and Development of the Wonderful City of New 
York 1-28 

CHAPTER II 
THE AQUARIUM 

In Which Jack, Nora and Doodle Visit the Aquarium 
and See Strange Creatures 29-53 

CHAPTER III 
CENTRAL PARK 

In Which Doodle, Jack, and Nora Explore Central 
Park 54-76 

CHAPTER IV 

A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
PART I 

In Which the Long-Looked For Visit at Last Takes 
Place; Jack and Nora Make the Acquaintance of 
]\Iany Strange Animals and Birds and Hear Stories 
Regarding Their Habits and Character .... 77-99 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 

A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 

PART II 

In Which Doodle, Jack and Nora After Lunching at 
the Rocking-Stone Restaurant, Visit the Reptiles, 
Small Mammals, More Birds and Beasts, and See 
all the Latest Styles in Zoological Fashions . . . 10Q-131 

CHAPTER VI 
A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 

In Which the Happy Trio Spend Several Hours in 
the Conservatory in Bronx Park Seeing Some of 
the Wonders and Beauties of Plant-Life .... 132-151 

CHAPTER VII 
A PICNIC BY THE WATERFALL 

In Which Jack and Nora Enjoy a Feast in the Hem- 
lock Forest and Learn the Queer Habits and Out- 
rageous Conduct of Some Members of the Vegetable 
World; After a Stroll Through the Gardens and 
the Botanical Museum, Return Home, Quite Tired 
After a Long and Happy Day 152-162 

CHAPTER VIII 

A VISIT TO THE NATURAL HISTORY ; 

MUSEUM 

In Which Nora, Jack and Doodle See Some Visitors 
From the Starry Skies ; Curiosities of the Savage 
Races ; Articles From the Neighbourhood of the 
North Pole; Make the Acquaintance of Gigantic 
Monsters of Pre-Historic Times; and See Many 
Other Things of Interest 163-193 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 

A VISIT TO THE METROPOLITAN 
MUSEUM 

In Which the Children See Some Wonderful Works 
of Man's Hand; Learn of Ancient Countries and 
Their Arts ; and Become Acquainted With Some 
Masterpieces of Architecture, Sculpture and Paint- 
ing 194-231 

CHAPTER X 
MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE PARKS 

In Which Doodle Points Out the Historical Land- 
marks and Delights the Children With Some 
Romantic Stories of the Hudson River Until the 
Goblin of the Dunderberg Calls up a Thunder- 
storm That Sends Them Scurrying Home . . . 232-247 

CHAPTER XI 
A TRIP TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 

In Which Jack and Nora Enjoy a Blow on the Bay; 
Visit the Eighth Wonder of the World ; and are 
Reminded by Doodle That the Great City of New 
York Was Once the Little Town of New Amster- 
dam 248-260 

APPENDIX 

Directions For Reaching the Museums and Other 
Points of Interest Described in This Book, With 
Other Useful Information 261-266 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Curtis Flying over the Statue of Liberty, May, 1910 . . 
Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

View of New Amsterdam, now New York (after Mon- 

tanus) 3 

Fort George and the town of New York from the South 

West in 1740. From a Lithograph by George Hayward . 14 

View of Broadway in 1840, between Howard and Grand 

Streets. From a Lithograph by George Hayward . . 21 
New York To-Day, View from Madison Square. 
MetropoHtan Life Insurance Building in the centre. 
Flatiron Building on the right and Madison Square 

Tower on the left 28 

Aquarium — an Interior View 33 

Sea-Horses 48 

The Mall, Northern End 53 

Map of Central Park 58 

Bethesda Fountain and the Lake 60 

Baseball in Central Park — a Summer Afternoon ... 71 

The Obelisk 74 

Map of the Zoological Park 79 

Baird Court 83 

Dreaming of the Wild 87 

Flying-Cage 90 

Gunda 94 

A Shower Bath for the Ostriches 117 

The Nubian Giraffes 124 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

General Plan of Botanical Gardens 133 

Court of the Public Conservatories 149 

The Waterfall in Hemlock Grove 156 

The Museum Building 161 

The American Museum of Natural History .... 167 

Hall of North American Ethnology 170 

Eskimo Woman Fishing through the Ice 176 

The Allosaurus and the Brontosaurus 188 

North American Waterfowl 193 

The Metropolitan Museum 197 

Hall of Casts 204 

Plan of the First Floor 208 

Plan of the Second Floor 213 

Friedland, 1807 220 

The Horse Fair 231 

Cathedral of St. John the Divine overlooking Morning- 
side Park. From a Photograph by Mr. Lewis W. 

Davidson 234 

A Vista of Riverside Park and Grant's Tomb. Captain 
Tom Baldwin is sailing in his dirigible balloon over 
the English Battleship Drake. From a Photograph 
Taken during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration . . . 241 
View of New York from the Harbour 256 



THE CHILDREN'S CITY 



THE CHILDREN'S CITY 



CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY 

IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO THREE 
NEW FRIENDS WHO HAVE NOT THE SLIGHTEST 
IDEA THAT THEY ARE BEING OBSERVED; AND IN 
WHICH THE AUTHOR AND READER OVERHEAR 
THEIR THREE NEW FRIENDS MAKE PLANS FOR 
SOME PLEASANT OUTINGS AND LEARN SOMETHING 
ABOUT THE FOUNDING, GROWTH AND DEVELOP- 
MENT OF THE WONDERFUL CITY OF NEW YORK. 

It was four o'clock. The study door opened, and 
in came Jack and Nora on their daily visit to their 
much-loved Doodle. 

Doodle was a relative, — whether an uncle or an 
aunt I will leave you to guess; and, although a 
Grown-Up, was so perfectly satisfactory to Jack 
and Nora that this unfortunate failing was for- 
given, and occasionally overlooked entirely. Some- 
times they wished that Doodle had not leaped the 
mysterious barrier that divides romantic childhood 
from that cold, unsympathetic, peculiar and utterly 
commonplace world where most Grown-Ups dwell. 
It would have been even nicer if Doodle had waited 
until old Father Time should force them to leave 
the pleasant Valley of Childhood, where the flowers 

I 



2 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

are always blooming and the birds are always 
singing, and been of their own delightful age 
(Jack was ten and Nora nine), but they made the 
most of the sad circumstance, and enjoyed as 
much of Doodle's society as the latter could afford 
to give them, charitably overlooking Doodle's rare 
but occasional lapses and back-slidings from their 
golden world. 

Four o'clock was a longed-for hour, for then they 
had the privilege of coming to the study for a de- 
lightful hour with Doodle. One day they would 
read a story together or they would each tell a 
story of their own; one day they would have a 
little chat or chatter; another day they would play 
a game of some kind for which pencils and paper 
were required; and on another occasion they would 
paint or draw; but whatever they did was always 
pleasurable. Sometimes they would find Doodle 
busy arranging that enormous desk, so full of 
mysterious pigeon-holes and drawers containing so 
many envelopes, neatly labelled and filled with scraps 
of writing and countless tracings and pictures of 
all sizes and kinds. That desk was a treasure- 
house. No genie's cave was ever more mysterious 
or richer with gems unseen ; — buried in the dark 
depths. Then Doodle's books were also fascin- 
ating — they always answered every question 
Nora and Jack asked. Many of them were illus- 
trated, too, with beautifully coloured plates, or 
quaint old-fashioned wood-cuts. Doodle's den was 
an ideal place, indeed. 

" I was wondering as you came in," said Doodle, 
" if you two children, who have lived all your lives 
in New York, really know anything about this great 
city. You are at home in Fifth Avenue, Broadway, 




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INTRODUCTORY 3 

Battery Park, Twenty-third street, Forty-second 
street, the upper West side and many side streets 
up-town and down-town, and you travel in the 
Elevated and the Subway and know all the sights 
and sounds of the streets; but I wonder if you are 
really acquainted with New York? " 

There was a pause. 

" Do you know that New York is one of the 
largest, richest and most wonderful cities in the 
world?" 

" Oh yes, we know that very well," answered the 
children together; and here before going any fur- 
ther I must explain that Jack and Nora frequently 
spoke in the plural. It was generally '' we " and 
** us " ; for they had always shared each other's 
studies and pleasures. 

" I wonder if you know New York^s histoiy, or 
if you have ever visited any of the buildings and 
places connected with the past! Do you know the 
City Hall? Fraunces Tavern? Trinity Church? 
St. Paul's? St. Mark's? Can you tell me any- 
thing about the Battery? Do you know how the 
Bowery got its name? Why Bowling-Green was 
called Bowling-Green? Do you know where Gen- 
eral Washington bade farewell to his army? 
Where he was inaugurated President of the United 
States? Do you know anything about Fort Am- 
sterdam and Fort George? " 

To all these questions the children shook their 
heads. 

" Well then, have you enjoyed the many pleas- 
ures that our great city offers to all — rich and poor, 
young and old — alike ? '* 

" What do you mean, Doodle? " 

*' I mean this: Have you ever been to the Met- 



4 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

ropolitan Museum? To the Natural History Mu- 
seum? To the Aquarium? To the Zoological 
Park? To the Botanical Gardens? Have you 
walked through Central Park with your eyes really 
open? " 

" No," was the answer to all these questions. 

" Then how would you like to take some pleas- 
ant outings with me, so that we may learn some- 
thing about our city. The bright, spring days have 
come. What do you say to a little jaunt once a 
week?" 

" Do you really mean it ? " came from both de- 
lighted children. 

" Indeed I do," answered Doodle. 

" Shall we begin to-morrow ? " asked Jack and 
Nora. 

" No ; not to-morrow. Not until next Monday ; 
for I want to tell you something about old New 
York before we start on our excursions. I want 
to give you an idea of what our city w^as like at va- 
rious periods. I want to tell you about Dutch New 
York; English New York; New York in the days 
of the Revolution ; and New York in the Nineteenth 
Century." 

" Can't you tell us now ? " asked the children 
eagerly, 

Dutch New York. 

" Of course I can," replied Doodle leaving the 
desk and taking a comfortable chair. " Nora, you 
can sit on my knee, and Jack, you can bring a chair 
for yourself; but first hand me the atlas. Turn to 
the map of the world, Jack, and find New York. 
Now look on the other side of the Atlantic ocean 
and find Holland. It is a long distance away from 



INTRODUCTORY 5 

us, isn't it? More than three thousand miles! 
Now, Nora, you please turn to the map of Holland ; 
and put your finger, if you please, on Amsterdam. 
You will notice that this city lies on a big sheet of 
water called the Zuyder Zee ; or, to be more exact, 
it lies on an ami of the Zuyder Zee called the Y 
(pronounced eye). 

" At the beginning of the Seventeenth Century 
Amsterdam was a very rich and splendid city — 
.one of the very richest cities in Europe. She was 
such an important port that she was often called 
' Queen of the Seas.' A merchant vessel was her 
seal and her harbour was always full of ships arriv- 
ing and departing for countries near and far. Am- 
sterdam contained fine old churches and public 
buildings and many of her canals were lined on both 
sides with the homes of rich citizens. These 
were filled with splendid furniture, beautiful paint- 
ings, rare pieces of porcelain, delicate specimens of 
glass, articles of silver and gold, artistically worked, 
fine Turkey rugs and carpets and many curiosities 
from the Far East. The Dutch were always great 
sailors and explorers, and they were among the first 
to trade with China and Japan. The Exchange in 
Amsterdam was a world famous money-market and 
the celebrated Bank of Amsterdam, established in 
1609, was almost as rich and important as the Bank 
of England. In 1602 the merchants of Amsterdam 
founded the East India Company to regulate all 
matters of foreign trade ; and among the many per- 
sons this company employed was an Englishman, 
named Henry Hudson, whom they sent out in 1609 
to see if he could find a new way to reach the East 
Indies by a northwest passage. I suppose I need 
not tell you that this boat was named — 



6 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" The Half Moon! " exclaimed Nora. " We saw 
it last September at the Hudson-Fulton Celebra- 
tion." 

" No, dear, you did not see the Half Moon, you 
saw a reproduction of it; but I am glad you saw 
this boat, for I need not describe it. Well, let us 
go on. The crew that Henry Hudson commanded 
consisted of from sixteen to twenty men, some of 
whom were Dutch and some English. 

" On the first of September, 1609, Hudson beheld 
the Highlands of Navesink, which he described as 
' very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land to 
see.' The next day he sailed around what we now 
call Sandy Hook; and on the day after that he 
anchored in the bay off the Jersey shore. On the 
6th of September, he sent a little boat out to explore 
the coast. She passed through the Narrows and 
came in sight of Manhattan Island; but, sad to re- 
late, the boat was attacked by two canoes filled with 
Indians and one of the party, named John Coleman, 
was instantly killed by an arrow that pierced his 
throat. 

** Five days later Hudson took the Half Moon 
through the Narrows and anchored in New York 
Harbour, where he was visited by the Indians who 
brought presents of Indian corn and tobacco, beads 
and other strange things. On September 12, Hud- 
son sailed up the river, which now bears his name, 
as far as Albany. He sailed on October 4th for 
Holland ; and as soon as he reached Amsterdam and 
reported his great discovery, describing in glowing 
terms the noble river and the fertile country 
covered with beautiful trees, grass and flowers, 
the abundance of the grain and vegetables pro- 
duced by the Indians, and, better than all, the pro- 



INTRODUCTORY 7 

fusion of furs to be had, the merchants of Am- 
sterdam agreed that the new country offered every 
advantage for settlers and traders that could be de- 
si-red. So they were not very long, you may believe, 
in fitting out trading vessels and hurrying them to 
Manhattan for more detailed reports. When these 
came back with good accounts, the Amsterdam mer- 
chants made arrangements to establish an agency 
on Manhattan Island and to send ships regularly 
back and forth. The little trading-post now estab- 
lished on the south point of the Island commanded 
by Hendrick Corstiaensen, soon increased in num- 
bers and was formed into the United New Nether- 
land Company. 

" In the meantime, the merchants and bankers in 
Holland formed in the year 1621 a great association 
called the West India Company to settle all matters 
of trade and government, treaties with the Indians 
and all questions that might arise with regard to the 
government of the new colony. In 1623 the West 
India Company sent out its first boat, the New Neth- 
erland. She brought thirty families, who were 
landed near the present site of Albany where they 
made a settlement. The New Netherland returned 
in the course of a few weeks with 500 otter skins, 
1500 beavers and other freight worth about $12,000 
— a big sum in those days. This staunch old boat, 
the New Netherland, went backwards and forwards 
between Old Amsterdam and New Amsterdam for 
thirty years ! 

" It was soon decided that the headquarters 
should be on Manhattan Island ; and ships were sent 
out with settlers and their families who were sup- 
plied with horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, seeds, farming- 
tools, household furniture and other necessities for 



8 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

making a permanent colony. Altogether, about 200 
persons came. 

" In 1626 the Sea Mew brought among its passen- 
gers Peter Minuit, whom the West India Company 
sent out to be the Director-General, or Governor, of 
the settlement. The first thing that Peter Minuit 
did was to buy the Island of Manhattan from 
the Manhattan Indians; what do you think he paid 
for it?" 

'' Millions and millions of dollars," Jack quickly 
answered. 

" Not a bit of it ! Sixty guilders — that is twen- 
ty-four dollars! Think of it — the whole of Man- 
hattan Island (about 22,000 acres) for only twenty- 
four dollars ! " 

" What would the Dutch have to pay for it to- 
day, Doodle," asked Jack, " if they could buy it 
from us? " 

" About four and a half billions of dollars, I 
should say," answered Doodle. " Well, let us go 
on with our story. 

" The Arms of Amsterdam was another boat that 
was sent out in 1626. She returned to Amsterdam 
with a great many skins of beaver, otter and mink, 
and a great deal of timber; and, best of all, carried 
the news that Peter Minuit had bought the Island 
of Manhattan for the Dutch. 

" The colonists now made a fort, which they 
named Fort Amsterdam ; and then they built a mill 
which was worked by horse. The second floor 
of the mill they arranged for a meeting-place where 
they could have religious services; for the Dutch 
were always very religious and great church-going 
people. 

'' The Company's House was a stone building 



INTRODUCTORY 9 

with a thatched roof; but the dwelhng-houses of the 
settlers grouped around it, were of wood. Fort 
Amsterdam was finished in 1628. In this year the 
colony numbered 270 persons, including children. 

*' The West India Company gave to each settler 
a farm, stocked with cattle, and allowed him garden 
seeds and tools ; and for this the tenant had to pay 
a portion of his profits. Just as a flame will spread 
from one blade of grass to another until a whole 
field is burning, so the enthusiasm for emigration 
spread, and ship after ship left Amsterdam crowded 
with passengers and packed with cattle and sup- 
plies. 

" On one of the quays in the harbor of Amster- 
dam you can see to-day an old round stone tower 
that was built five hundred years ago. It is called 
the ' Weepers' Tower ' (the Dutch name is Schreyer- 
storen), because from it people were accustomed 
to wave their tearful farewells to friends on depart- 
ing ships ; and from it many and many with aching 
heart and tearful eye have watched the vessels sail 
out into the Zuyder Zee on their long voyage to 
New Amsterdam in the unknown western world. 
The Atlantic trip w^as full of dangers; and the new 
colony held many hardships, privations and perils 
in store for those who had decided to brave the ter- 
rors of the sea and seek their fortunes in a new 
world. In family partings hearts beat with the 
same emotions three hundred years ago as they 
do to-day and those who stood on the Weepers' 
Tower and watched the Arms of Amsterdam, or 
the New Netherland, or the Sea Mew, or the Gilded 
Fox, bearing their loved ones away, wept long and 
bitterly before they could go back to their daily 
duties and daily pleasures. And remember, too, 



lO THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

how long, how very, very long it was in those days 
before they could hear any news of the good ship! " 

" How long did it take to get here ? " asked Nora. 

" The voyage lasted from seven to eight weeks, 
and the travellers were more than glad when their 
boat passed through the Hoof den (as they called 
the Narrows) and approached the little settlement. 
The people on Manhattan were glad, too, to hear 
news from home, to welcome friends and relatives 
who had been induced to join them, and to re- 
ceive supplies; so, whenever a ship was seen in 
the distance, they raised a flag on the tall flag- 
staff of Fort Amsterdam in greeting." 

" Where did the boats land ? " asked Jack. 

" The anchorage ground was the roadstead be- 
tween Kapske Point (South Ferry) and the head 
of Coenties Slip near the City Tavern on the East 
River; and ships that landed anywhere else were 
compelled to pay a fine." 

" The town was soon laid out in streets and 
lots and cut through with canals. It was also pro- 
tected by a strong palisade with gates that were 
shut at night ; and, in case of an attack by the 
Indians, everybody could seek refuge behind the 
walls of the Fort. The houses were built along 
the lines of the Fort and the river shore, which 
extended to Pearl Street and from Whitehall to 
Broad. It was called the Strand. 

" There was also a road from the Fort to the 
Ferry, which crossed to Brooklyn, and a stockade at 
Wall Street, where the city ended. 

" Some of the houses were built of brick and 
stone with tiled roofs and some were of wood 
with brick chimneys. 

" Would you like it if an old Dutch traveller 



INTRODUCTORY II 

could suddenly come into this room and tell us 
how the city looked when he saw it more than 
three hundred years ago?" 

** Oh, indeed, I should ! " cried Jack. 

''Indeed, I shouldn't!" cried Nora. "I'm 
afraid of ghosts! " 

" Well I am going to ask him to come. Nora, 
your eyes need not grow so round and you need 
not look at me so questioningly. Jack, open the 
third drawer of my desk and hand me that large 
yellow envelope marked New York Seventeenth 
Century, Ah! here is what I want. 

" Here is a note from an old traveller, named 
Montanus, who came to New Amsterdam and was 
much delighted wath all that he saw. Now Jack 
suppose you read what he has to say about the city 
as it was in 1671 ; and for the moment we will im- 
agine that you are Mr. Montanus." 

Jack obligingly consented and read as follows: 

" ' On the Manhattan's Island stands New Am- 
sterdam, five miles from the ocean: ships run up 
to the harbour there from the sea with one tide. 
The city hath an earthen fort. Within the fort and 
on the outermost bastion towards the river, stand 
a windmill and a very high staff, on which a flag 
is hoisted whenever any vessels are seen in Godyn's 
Bay. The church rises with a double roof be- 
tween which a square tower looms aloft. On 
one side is the prison, on the other side of the 
church, the Governor's house. Without the walls 
are the houses mostly built by the Amsterdamers. 
On the river side stand the gallows and the whip- 
ping-post. A handsome public tavern adorns the 
farthest point. Between the fort and this tavern 
is a row of suitable dwelling-houses : among which 



12 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

stand out the warehouses of the West India 
Company.' " 

*' Thank you, Mr. Montanus," said Doodle, 
" Now I will tell the rest. 

" The houses were built in the quaint style of 
those at home with crow-stepped roofs, pointed 
gables and dormer windows and the sills and 
gardens were bright with flowers. Of course they 
had tulips (you know the Dutch were crazy about 
tulips) and gilliflowers and red and white roses 
and lilies and violets and all the native flowers 
they found here — sunflowers and red and white 
lilies and morning-glories, — and all the native 
vegetables and fruits. Behind many of the houses 
were splendid orchards of peaches, pears and ap- 
ples. The West India Company had a large gar- 
den on Broadway not far from the Fort, which was 
cultivated by the Company's negroes. 

" You sometimes hear that the Dutch lived very 
simply and poorly in the early days of New 
Amsterdam. Of course this was true of the poor 
people, the small farmers, the servants and the 
workmen; but the wealthy colonists had everything 
in their houses here that their rich relatives had 
in old Amsterdam. 

" Their homes were filled with fine furniture — 
rich ebony chairs; chairs covered with leather and 
made comfortable with cushions; East India 
cabinets full of curiosities; great nutwood cases, 
or wardrobes, called hasten, in which they kept 
their clothes and treasures- and cupboards with 
glass doors, filled with china from the East and 
blue and white flowered ware from Holland. 
Bright curtains draped the beds and hung at the 
windows; the tables were covered with Turkey 



INTRODUCTORY 13 

rugs; looking-glasses brightened the walls; and 
many families had large collections of paintings. 
So you see there were wealth, style and ele- 
gance in New York from its earliest days. 

" New Amsterdam was also a town of pleasure. 
The old Dutch burghers and their families did more 
than smoke their pipes and knit their socks as 
some people would have us believe. They had 
wedding- feasts and christening-parties; they went 
to church in rich attire, carrying silver-clasped 
Bibles in their hands; they had sleighing and skat- 
ing in the winter and picnic parties in the summer; 
games and masquerades at Shrovetide; May-poles 
and many games in the spring; frolics at Whit- 
suntide ; bonfires on St. Martin's Eve ; cattle-markets 
and fairs in the autumn; hunting, fishing, bowling 
and golfing; archery matches; and special feasting 
and fun at Christmas, New Year's Day and 
Twelfth Night. The greatest holiday of all, how- 
ever, was December 6, — St. Nicholas Day. St. 
Nicholas, patron of sailors and patron of old 
Amsterdam, was chosen to be the patron saint of 
New Amsterdam. The church in the fort was St. 
Nicholas's Church, and St. Nicholas's Day, or Eve 
rather, was the favourite of all holidays. This was 
the time they made the special St. Nicholas cakes 
and the marchpane and gilded the nuts and put 
their little wooden shoes (not stockings) but 
wooden shoes by the chimney for St. Nicholas tO' 
fill. And St. Nicholas never made a mistake. To 
the good children he brought presents and sweet 
meats and nice surprises; and to the naughty ones 
— I hardly like to tell you, — guess I You can't ? 
Well, then, — a switchT 



14 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

English New York 

" One day in 1664 an English vessel arrived in 
the harbour with an armed force under Colonel 
Nicholls, who demanded the surrender of New 
Amsterdam to him as the representative of the 
Duke of York, the brother of Charles the Second, 
King of England. The English claimed the prov- 
ince by right of earlier discovery than the Dutch and 
Charles the Second had granted it to his brother, 
James. The Dutch Governor, Stuyvesant, un- 
willingly submitted on finding that the city, as a 
whole, was favourable to the change. 

'' The Dutch flag was hauled down, and the Eng- 
lish flag raised in its place over the Fort, which 
was now re-named Fort James, and the name of the 
town was changed to New York. 

'' New York continued to be an important trade 
centre : its merchants at this time were of several 
nationalities. In 1712, the population numbered 
5,816, — Dutch, French, English, Portuguese, 
Jews and negroes. In 1720, a free grammar 
school was opened; in 1725, the first newspaper — 
the New York Gazette — was established, and in 
1729 a city library was founded. In 1731, the 
population numbered ^,^2>2. In 1744, there were 
1,141 houses, and in 175 1, 2059 houses. 

" In 1753, New York was described as being 
about a mile long and half a mile broad, ' the most 
splendid town on the Continent.' The streets were 
paved and the chief streets were planted with trees 
so thickly that to walk about the town seemed like 
walking in a garden. The water-beeches, elms, 
locust trees and the sweet-scented lindens, were 
filled with birds and the tree-frogs amazed all the 




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INTRODUCTORY 15 

foreign visitors. The houses were of brick several 
stories high, with their gable ends turned towards 
the street, and their roofs covered with tiles or 
shingles. Many of them had a balcony on the roof 
where people sat in the summer evenings to enjoy 
the view of the river and harbour. The city was 
built more thickly on the East River. West of 
Broadway, between Dye and Warren Streets, was 
situated the King's Farm; and facing the King's 
Farm, on the other side of Broadway, was the 
Common, or Park. Beyond this was a lake called 
the Fresh Water, or Collect, from which a canal 
(afterwards Canal Street), carried its waters to 
the Hudson. 

'' The old City Hall, formerly the Dutch Stadt 
Huys, at Coenties Slip, was given up in 1699, ^^^ ^ 
new City Hall was built in Wall Street. 

'' In 1766, New York contained 3,223 houses. 
The line of palisades, around the northern end of 
the town, starting from James and Cherry Streets 
and running across Duane and Pearl Streets south 
of the Fresh Water and north of Warren Street, 
was strengthened with three block-houses having 
six port holes for cannon. The four gates were 
in Pearl Street, Chatham Square, Broadway and 
Greenwich Street. The Ferries were Peck Slip to 
the Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn, Coenties, Whitehall, 
Burling and Beekman on the East side; but there 
was only one on the Hudson side, — at the foot of 
Oswego (Liberty) Street. There were also ferries 
to Perth Amboy, Powles Hook and Staten Island. 
Stages carried the mails and passengers twice a 
week to Boston, three times a week to Philadel- 
phia and once a week to Albany; and packet-boats 
went regularly about once a month between New 



i6 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

York and Falmouth. The harbour was full of trad- 
ing vessels, for the majority of the wealthy citizens 
were interested in the shipping business, and many 
of the merchants imported goods on their own ac- 
count. 

" The principal front of the city faced Long Is- 
land, the most important building was Fort George, 
the walls of which extended from the present 
Greenwich Street and Battery Place to Whitehall 
and Front Streets. The southern end was built on 
rocks at the water's edge. The Governor's House 
stood within the walls on the site now occupied by 
the Custom House. 

" There was a large open space in front of the 
Fort, which was called The Parade, because the 
soldiers drilled there. In 1732, the Corporation 
leased * a piece of land lying at the lower end of 
Broadway, fronting the Fort to some of the inhab- 
itants in order to be enclosed to make a Bowling 
Green there, with walks therein, for the beauty and 
ornament of said street as well as for the delight 
of the inhabitants of this city.' It was leased to 
Peter Bayard, Peter Jay and John Chambers for 
eleven years at the rent of one pepper-corn a year! 

" The lower part of Broadway being near the Fort 
was a very fashionable district. On what is now 
the corner of Battery Park and Broadway, Captain 
Kennedy, the naval commander and Collector of 
the Port, built a fine mansion in 1760. The shady 
street leading from this point to Trinity Church 
was built with handsome residences and called the 
Mall. 

" Another fashionable street, was Pearl. On the 
corner of Broad and Pearl Street, stood and still 
stands Fraunces Tavern! 



INTRODUCTORY 17 

" Broad Street, originally a marsh through which 
the Dutch had made a canal, was crossed by a 
bridge at its foot, that gave its name to Bridge 
Street. This was one of the principal landing 
places for vessels. King's Bridge over the Harlem 
river was the only bridge connecting New York 
with the mainland until 1759 when Free Bridge 
Dyckman's, a little to the south of it, was opened. 

'' There was another little bridge which I must 
tell you about — the * Kissing-Bridge,' over De 
Voor's mill stream (Fifty-third street between Sec- 
ond and Third Avenues) which got its name be- 
cause it was the custom for a lady's escort to kiss 
her when they drove across. The custom dated 
from the Dutch; but the English liked the idea so 
much that they kept it up. The old Boston Post 
Road passed over it and the Kissing-Bridge did 
not disappear until i860." 

" I think that was a horrid custom," said Nora, 
pouting. 

" / don't," said Jack .airily, " it must have been 
lots of fun to tease the girls." 

" Georgie Porgie, Pudding and Pie, kissed the 
girls and made them cry," sang Nora, — " that's 
what you want to do." 

Doodle, taking no notice of the interruption, con- 
tinued : ■ 

'' The great centre for business was Hanover 
Square where many of the rich merchants had their 
counting-houses. A good many business men, then 
as now, had country seats on Long Island, Staten 
Island and on the Jersey shore and came to town 
by boat to do business for a few hours each day. 
Some of the best families, too, had shops of their 
own and business offices in, or near, their dwellings. 



l8 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" The gardens of the country-seats were beau- 
tifully laid out in the Dutch, French, English, 
Italian, or Chinese style, according to the fashion 
of the time and taste of the owners; and were orna- 
mented with shrubs, flower-beds, urns, vases, grotto- 
work, pavilions, summer-houses, mazes, colonnades, 
arcades and greenhouses. 

" The houses contained everything in the way of 
fine furniture that you can think of. The tables 
were splendidly set and served; the servants wore 
livery ; and many people owned magnificent coaches 
and beautifully fitted up barges and pleasure-boats, 
and they also had sedan-chairs and sleighs. 

" The New Yorkers went to the theatre, to con- 
certs, balls and parties, dancing-assemblies and to en- 
tertainments at Fort George ; and the men had clubs 
and societies. Fashionable people and the general 
public used to go alike to the big summer gardens, 
Ranelagh and Vauxhall, where they had various 
kinds of entertainment that included foods of all 
kinds, light refreshments, concerts, dancing, plays, 
bands of music and beautiful walks amid the illu- 
minated trees and flowers. The evening's pleasures 
always ended with fireworks. 

" The New Yorkers dressed handsomely and in 
the latest European fashions. The men with their 
powdered wigs, cocked hats, red-heeled shoes, glit- 
tering shoe and knee buckles, embroidered waist- 
coats, lace ruflles, silken coats, fine shirts, silk 
stockings, bunches of seals, snuff-boxes, walking- 
sticks and umbrellas and the ladies with their enor- 
mous hooped skirts of silk or flowered brocade, 
high headdresses, straw hats, gauze ribbons, ruflFs, 
tippets and muffs of feathers or fur, lutestring 
cloaks, embroidered shoes, calash-bonnets, fans, 



INTRODUCTORY 19 

smelling-bottles, snuff and match-boxes, and jewels 
and lace must have looked like a swarm of brilliant 
butterflies. 

" Are you tired? " asked Doodle. 

" Not a bit ! " the children answered. 

" Then shall we go on? " 

" Oh, do ! " 

" Very well then : we will . We've finished with 
English New York now; so let us get on to the 
next period." 

New York During the Revolution and Later. 

" English New York was not to last forever. So 
now comes a change. The Revolution is approach- 
ing. There were two parties at this time in America : 
the Tories, or Royalists, who supported the King 
and Parliament; and the Whigs or Rebels, who re- 
sisted their tyranny. The strife between them soon 
became intense ; and a favorite toast of the day was 
* Addition to Whigs, subtraction to Tories, multi- 
plication to the friends of liberty and division to 
the enemies of America.' 

'' At this time a great patriotic and secret society 
was organized in New York, which had branches 
in every small town. It was called the Sons of 
Liberty, and the ' Sons ' used to meet in the Fields 
or the Common and also in Montague's Tavern. 

'' Well, to go on. James Otis of Massachusetts 
called a congress of the colonists together to con- 
sider the question of resisting the Stamp Act. 
Nine delegates from the Thirteen Colonies met in 
the City Hall and the City Arms Tavern in New 
York; and they all agreed to return the goods to 
Great Britain unless the Act were repealed. While 



20 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

the delegates were in session, the Edward arrived 
with some stamped paper, whereupon the vessels in 
the harbour lowered their colours, the bells of the 
city were tolled and people went about beating muf- 
fled drums for the funeral of Liberty. Presently the 
Polly came sailing in with ten packages of stamped 
paper, and landed at Cruger's Dock; but a body of 
armed men boarded her at night and carried all the 
paper to the ship yards in the East River and 
iDurned them in tar barrels." 

" Hurrah ! " cried Jack, " I wish I could have 
been with them ! " 

" In the spring the new ministry in England with 
William Pitt at the head, repealed the Stamp Act 
and a new governor was sent to New York — Sir 
Henry Moore — who came with every wish to make 
peace ; but soon there was trouble between the Sons 
of Liberty and the soldiers, which arose because of 
the Liberty Pole that stood on the north side of the 
Common between Chambers and Warren Streets. 

" And now here come the old Liberty Pole's 
troubles. Shall I go on ? " 

" Oh, do ! " said Jack and Nora together. 

"On June 4, 1766, on the anniversary of the 
King's birthday, the people had a great celebration to 
express their joy over the repeal of the Stamp Act. 
Cannon thundered and bells pealed at daybreak. 
Two large fat oxen were roasted on the Common, 
and a Liberty Pole was erected bearing the King's 
colours and banner with the words ' The King, Pitt, 
Liberty.' At night there were bonfires and illumi- 
nations. 

" The soldiers at the Fort were determined to cut 
down the Liberty Pole and at last they succeeded in 
doing so. This created great excitement. Two or 



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INTRODUCTORY 21 

three thousand men, principally Sons of Liberty, 
headed by a merchant named Isaac Sears, went to de- 
mand an explanation from the officers and soldiers 
and about cutting down their Tree of Liberty, and 
then they put up another. The soldiers cut this 
down and the citizens set up another; and, finally, 
in January, 1770, the soldiers blew this one up with 
gunpowder and piled up some of the pieces in front 
of Montague's Tavern. This was too much! 
Pretty nearly the whole town collected in the Com- 
mons and vowed revenge. The result was a fight. 
The Sons of Liberty and the people armed them- 
selves with knives and sticks, and clubs and paving- 
stones and brick-bats; the bells of the city rang; the 
shops were closed; and the soldiers retreated to a 
little eminence, then named Golden Hill (now John 
and William Street). This happened two months 
before the Boston massacre. It is sometimes called 
the beginning of the American Revolution, and re- 
ferred to as the Battle of Golden Hill. 

" The Sons of Liberty then erected a stronger 
Pole on the Common. 

" The next event was the arrival of the tea-ship — 
the Nancy. The Mohawks, a society something 
like the Sons of Liberty, had already destroyed the 
tea in Boston Harbor in December, 1773, and an- 
other society of Mohawks was waiting to receive 
the Nancy. The Sons of Liberty were ready to 
help; and consequently when the Nancy arrived in 
April, 1774, off Sandy Hook, the pilots would not 
allow her to enter the harbour. A few days later she 
sailed for London, The Liberty Pole was deco- 
rated ; all the ships in the harbour flew their colours 
and every bell in the city pealed except those of the 
City Hall and King's College. 



22 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" The Battle of Lexington was fought on April 
19, 1775. New York heard the news four days 
later and the flame of war was again fanned. A 
committee of a hundred patriots took charge of the 
city; companies of miHtia were formed; and a party 
of men went to the City Hall, forced the doors and 
procured muskets, bayonets and cartridges. Vol- 
unteers were also told to get themselves the proper 
regimental clothes. 

*' Fort George was then occupied by the Royal 
Irish — the 1 8th Regiment — commanded by Major 
Isaac Hamilton; and this Royal Irish regiment was 
soon ordered to Boston to re-inforce General Gage. 
New York was very dull and quiet all through the 
summer of 1775 and the succeeding winter. 

" Early in January, 1776, General Washington 
sent General Charles Lee to New York to take 
command of the city. The first thing he did was 
to fortify the defences. Sir Henry Clinton arrived 
off Sandy Hook at the same time; but to his sur- 
prise found that he could not land. 

** General Washington arrived in New York on 
April 14, and on July 9th he received his copy of the 
Declaration of Independence. At six o'clock in the 
afternoon he had it read to the troops. They were 
all drawn up on the Common in a hollow square and 
Washington sat on horseback in the centre, while 
an aide read the now famous document. When it 
was finished, three hearty cheers were given, the 
bells of the city were rung, the guns were fired and 
some of the soldiers and citizens went to the Bowl- 
ing-Green and destroyed the Statue of George III, 
which had been placed there in 1770. On July 12, 
two British war-ships, named the Phoenix and the 
Rose slipped through the Narrows and sailed up 



INTRODUCTORY 23 

the Hudson, firing on the city as they sailed along. 

" The British had possession of the city for seven 
years during which many incidents happened and 
two terrible fires occurred. 

" Everybody was happy when peace was pro- 
claimed in the autumn of 1783, and the British 
evacuated New York. 

" As the British troops embarked at the Battery — 
Washington and his soldiers marched into town — 
down the Bowery to Chatham, to Pearl (then 
Queen), to Wall Street, to Cape's Tavern (the old 
Province Arms), where the Boreel building is now 
situated, and thence to Fort George. 

" An American lady gives us a good picture of 
the scene she watched so excitedly : 

" * The troops just leaving us were as if equipped 
for show and with their scarlet uniforms and bur- 
nished arms, made a brilliant display; the troops 
that marched in, on the contrary, were ill-clad and 
weather-beaten, and made a forlorn appearance ; but 
then they were our troops, and as I looked at them, 
and thought upon all they had done and suffered 
for us, my heart and my eyes were full, and I ad- 
mired and gloried in them the more because they 
were weather-beaten and forlorn.' 

" On December 4, 1873, General Washington bade 
farewell to his officers in Fraunces Tavern and 
then he w^alked to Whitehall where a barge was 
waiting for him, to take him across the ferry on 
his way to Virginia. 

'' The first Congress met in New York in 1789 
and elected General Washington President of the 
United States. He left Mount Vernon on the i6th 
of April of that year and arrived on the 24th. 
On the 30th of April he was inaugurated on the 



24 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

balcony of the City Hall, now called Federal Hall, 
in full view of the enormous crowd. This build- 
ing was on Wall and Broad Streets, but it had been 
entirely remodelled." 

"Where did General Washington live?" asked 
Nora. 

'' For several years in ai handsome house on 
Cherry and Franklin Streets, and in 1790 in a 
house in Broadway near Trinity Church; but in 
that year a very handsome residence was built for 
the President of the United States, for it was then 
supposed that New York would always be the 
capital of the country. It stood on the southeast 
side of Bowling-Green and they pulled down old 
Fort George to make room for it. It was of red 
brick and had columns and a porticO'. As the 
governors subsequently resided in it, it was called 
The Government House. 

" At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century 
New York contained about 61,000 inhabitants. 
Battery Park and Broadway was the fashionable 
residential district and Pearl and Cortlandt Streets, 
the fashionable shopping district. Broadway 
•ended at what is now Astor Place. City Hall 
Park was still called the Commons, or the Park; 
and on it stood the Almshouse, the New Bridewell, 
the New Jail and the Gallows. Facing the Park, 
was the Park Theatre. The City Hall was begun 
in 1803 and finished in 1812. It cost half a million 
of dollars, and the back was left unadorned be- 
cause the New Yorkers thought the town would 
never grow north of it ! As it stands, it is one of 
the handsomest buildings in America, and a splen- 
did specimen of the style of architecture of its day. 

" In 1805, there was a terrible outbreak of yellow 



INTRODUCTORY 25 

fever and people moved out in the country to es- 
cape it; and in 181 1 a fire started in Chatham 
Street and wiped out about a hundred houses. 
Then came the war with Great Britain, which lasted 
from 1812 to 1815. At this period the popula- 
tion was about 95,000. 

" After peace was declared, New York had noth- 
ing to do but to extend her trade and commerce 
and manufacturing, and to grow and grow and 
grow. Modern New York dates from about 1820. 

*' Broadway then had sidewalks, though it was 
still hilly ; the old Collect, or Fresh Water Pond, was 
filled in; the steam- ferry boats were started after 
Robert Fulton took the Clermont up the Hudson 
in 1807; gas was introduced in 1825; and omni- 
buses in 1830 that ran on Broadway from Bowling- 
Green to Bleecker Street." 

" How large was New York in those days. 
Doodle ? " asked Nora. 

" Do you mean how many people lived here ? 
Well; in 1830 the population was 200,000." 

" How was it New York got to be such a rich 
city ? " asked Jack. 

" It always was a rich city, dear," replied Doodle. 
" It was rich in the days of the old Dutch mer- 
chants; it was rich in the days of the English 
merchants; it weathered through the stormy days 
of the Revolution; and it recovered rapidly when 
it became the capital of the Thirteen States. One 
great help towards New York's enormous wealth 
was the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. This 
joined the Great Lakes with the Atlantic seaboard 
and New York was the gateway, you see. When 
the first canal-boat, named the Seneca Chief, left 
Buffalo with a distinguished party on board, the 



26 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

event was celebrated 5n New York; and when it 
arrived a few days later, the cannon boomed, the 
church bells pealed, and there were splendid pro- 
cessions, balls, illuminations and fireworks." 

" How did they illuminate without electric 
lights ? " asked Jack. 

" Candles and lamps." 

" They couldn't do much with those, could 
they ? " queried Nora. 

" I think they did pretty well," answered Doodle. 
" The City Hall was illuminated with 1,524 candles, 
454 lamps and 310 variegated lamps. Then they 
had transparencies with views of the canal and 
portraits of the people who had made it and mag- 
nificent fireworks consisting of rockets, showers of 
stars and dragons and serpents and balls. Many 
houses and theatres were illuminated; and it must 
have been a very brilliant sight. 

" The next thing that will probably interest you," 
continued Doodle, " was the introduction of Croton 
Water in 1842, when High Bridge (1,450 feet long) 
was built to carry the pipes over the ravine into the 
city. Up to that time the water was obtained from 
wells and from the Tea-Water Pump, on the corner 
of Pearl and Chatham Streets. Housekeepers sent 
their servants for water ; or they bought it from the 
vendors who carried fresh water from this pump 
about town and sold it for a penny a gallon. 

*' Well ; I'm not going to tell you anything about 
the high buildings and the elevated trains and the 
subways and New York of to-day, because you 
know all about it; but do you know that now New 
York is the second city in the world? " 

" What is the biggest ? " asked Nora. 

'' London." 



INTRODUCTORY 27 

" How many people live in New York, Doodle ? " 
asked Jack. 

'' Our population was estimated last January at 
2,410,250, — that is to say Manhattan Island alone; 
if we include Greater New York, then the popula- 
tion numbers 4,730,350. Isn't this a wonderful 
city to have grown so rapidly in three hundred 
years ? Just let your minds jump back to the little 
Dutch town of New Amsterdam and then think all 
this has been accomplished in three hundred years! 

*' Now, I propose," continued Doodle, " that we 
go on a jaunt once a week and see our city for 
ourselves, visiting its museums and pleasure- 
grounds and enjoying to the utmost what it offers 
so generously to us; and I am glad that you both 
like the idea." 

" Indeed, indeed we do ! " exclaimed Nora and 
Jack. " Five days to wait until Monday 1 Oh 
dear!" 

" There is one thing I must require," said Doodle, 
very solemnly. " Wherever we go, we must obey 
the rules and regulations. Nothing that is asked 
of us is unreasonable. It costs the city and soci- 
eties a great deal of money to keep up these muse- 
ums and parks; and a vast amount of labour is ex- 
pended on the care of all the live creatures and rare 
objects that we shall see. The directors of all these 
places have given thought to the matter before 
making their requests ; and so, wherever we go, we 
must conform to all their rules and heed all their 
warnings. In addition to this, we must observe 
quietly, so as not to disturb others who are enjoy- 
ing the same things as ourselves; and we must not 
feed, or tease, or annoy the live creatures that we 
shall see." 



28 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Oh, we will keep the rules ! You can depend 
On us ! " replied the children, very emphatically. 

" ' Nay, but swear it ! ' " cried Doodle, tragic- 
ally, kneeling quickly on the floor with an uplifted 
ruler : — 

" ' Upon my sword! 

Come hither, gentlemen, 

And lay your hands upon my sword, 

Upon my sword ! ' " 

Jack and Nora, who had often read and played 
Hamlet with Doodle, obeyed, and then ran off, 
laughing. 

" Wait a minute ! " Doodle called after them, 
" we'll start to-morrow, if it is a fine day.'' 



=*^pf^ 




CHAPTER II 
THE AQUARIUM 

IN WHICH JACK, NORA AND DOODLE VISIT THE 
AQUARIUM AND SEE STRANGE CREATURES. 

The day was fortunately so bright that Jack and 
Nora were sure that it had been woven sometime 
between night and dawn out of the golden sunlight 
and fresh breezes especially for their pleasure; so, 
early in the afternoon, they ran across the street to 
Doodle's apartment, which was opposite their own. 
Doodle was ready for the jaunt; but, instead of re- 
plying to their excited " Where are you going to 
take us ? " began with the most provoking calmness 
as follows : 

" Have you ever thought when you were sitting 
on the rocks at the seashore, or walking on the 
yellow sands, watching the sapphire waves swing 
and sparkle before they broke into snowy foam 
that you would like to walk in under those glorious 
billows and see all the wonders of the deep, — the 
coral grottoes where the sea-gods and goddesses 
dwell ; the deep caves w^here the Old Man of the Sea 
keeps his herd of seals; the marble halls where 
Neptune stables his great sea-horses ; the mysterious 
hollows where the huge sea-serpents coil; and, per- 
haps, surprise the mermaids combing their long 
glistening hair, or find St. Brandan's fairy isle, or 
the fabled Atlantis, or the island of Avalon, to which 
the three queens bore King Arthur? 

" And when you were tired of searching for these 

29 



30 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

fantastic things, would you not like to see all the 
wonderful creatures that live in the water — the 
whales, the seals, the fish, the serpents, the crabs, the 
lobsters and all the great and little creatures that live 
in the caves and on the sea-weeds and sea-trees and 
sea-moss and sea-grasses, — in short, what we call 
the marine fauna and Hora (animals and plants) ? " 

*' Oh, indeed, we should," replied Jack and Nora 
together. 

" Suppose we do then?" 

" How can we ? We can't get to the sea-shore 
to-day!" 

" I don't intend to take you to the sea-shore," 
answered Doodle. " We are going down to the 
Battery in the elevated train and then walk across 
Battery Park to the Aquarium." 

" But we've been to the Aquarium," the children 
protested in a very disappointed tone. 

" I doubt if you can tell me what you saw there." 

" Oh, yes, we can ; we saw fishes swimming about 
in tanks and some seals in the big pools." 

^' Is that all?" 

** Yes, but let's go again. We'd like to go any- 
where with you. What is an Aquarium, anyway ? " 

" You know a great many words come from 
Latin/' Doodle explained. " This is one of them. 
The Latin word aqua means water and aquarium is 
used to describe a tank, or collection of tanks, 
where water-creatures are kept as much as possible 
under natural conditions. Our aquarium is a very 
fine one; indeed there are only a few others in the 
whole world that can compare with it, — those in 
Naples, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Brighton in Eng- 
land, Washington and Bermuda." 

'' Are all Aquariums shaped like ours," the chil- 



THE AQUARIUM 31 

dren asked, as they caught sight of the peculiar 
brown building. 

" Oh, dear no ! " Doodle answered. " Ours was 
built for a fort, — didn't you know that? No? I 
shall have to tell you about it. It was built in 1807, 
— about a hundred years ago. At that time the 
shore line of Battery Park stopped at about where 
the Elevated Railway now runs, so this old fort, 
which was called Fort Clinton, was built out on 
Kapske Rock and was joined to the mainland by a 
bridge. Castle Clinton, as it was also called, was 
very much like Castle Williams on Governor's Is- 
land, as it was round and pierced w4th loop-holes 
through which the mouths of the guns pointed to- 
wards the sea. 

" Breast-works were erected all along the water- 
front around the Battery Parade; and Fort Clinton 
was a very important defence during the war with 
Great Britain in 1812-1815. 

*' After peace was made. New York had no 
longer any need for a fort on the Battery; and, in 
1822, the unused building was leased to some pri- 
vate individuals, who turned it into a place of 
amusement and changed its name to Castle Garden. 
It was used as an opera-house, a concert-hall, a sort 
of circus place and a reception hall for distinguished 
visitors. 

" In 1855 it became the station for the landing of 
emigrants; but now instead of human beings the 
round building shelters strangers bearing fins and 
scales and spines, and instead of the strains of the 
orchestra and the beautiful voices of Mario and 
Grisi and Jenny Lind you hear the sound of many 
footsteps and the splash and swish of the captives 
in the tanks and pools. 



32 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" So now you know all about Castle Garden 
until it was turned into an Aquarium in 1896. In 
1902, it was placed under the control of the New 
York Zoological Society; and people have enjoyed 
going there so much that since it was opened, up to 
1909, there have been twenty-one millions of vis- 
itors. In one year alone — November, 1908 to 
November, 1909 — there were 3,739,133 who called 
to see the fishes. 

" Well, here we are. As we enter notice that 
there is one great central pool on the floor sur- 
rounded by six other pools, all of which are sup- 
plied with salt water. These are used for the ex- 
hibition of large salt water animals, or fish, such as 
seals, sea-lions, whales, sturgeon, and special cap- 
tures. Then notice ninety-four glass-fronted wall 
tanks in two tiers; and that the light is arranged 
from above and below in such a way that we seem 
to be standing at the bottom of the ocean, or river. 
The wall tanks on the south side of the building 
are for the salt-water fishes and those on the north 
side are for the fresh-water fishes." 

" How many fishes do you suppose are here, 
Doodle ? " asked Jack. 

" Altogether there are about two hundred species 
of fish, and from three thousand to four thousand 
specimens of these. Many of them are native ma- 
rine and fresh-water species; but there are also 
tropical specimens from Bermuda. It is very dif- 
ficult to take care of all these diflFerent creatures; 
some of which require salt-water and some fresh- 
water." 

" How do they get the water into the building? " 
questioned Jack. 



THE AQUARIUM 33 

"Wells sunk under the building supply the salt- 
water. The made ground through which it is 
drawn serves as a great natural filter. The water 
is pumped directly into the supply tanks whence it 
is pumped to the other tanks. The fresh-water 
supply is taken from the ordinary city's water sup- 
ply, and is filtered before being used. Some of the 
tanks are supplied with extra air carried intO' them 
by means of pipes, for all fishes have to have air. 
*' And here is another trouble : — Fishes seek 
colder or warmer waters by swimming at greater 
or less depths, or by moving into- warmer or colder 
regions ; and, therefore, the water has to be changed 
sometimes to suit their tastes and needs. There is 
a refrigerating plant for cooling fresh-water, so 
that the tanks of such fishes as trout, for instance, 
that require cool water in summer may be rendered 
comfortable and make them cease to long for those 
cool shady pools they always seek at this season of 
the year. 

" On the other hand, the tropical and sub-trop- 
ical fishes would certainly die on the approach of 
winter if they had to live in the water that comes 
into the Aquarium unless it were heated. So there 
is a hot-water plant that supplies their tanks with 
delightfully tepid or warm water that reminds them 
of home. 

" So you see a great many boilers, filters, a re- 
frigerating-plant, supply tanks, pipes, and other 
^appliances are required to take care of these crea- 
tures. Moreover, they all require constant watch- 
ing and care. The tanks have to be kept scru- 
pulously clean; the water has to be kept pure; 
special fishes need water of special temperature, 



34 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

which must never be allowed to vary; and then 
they all require special feeding. Then there are 
special hatching-tanks and trays that have to be 
watched; and the sick, or moping, fish also need 
doctoring." 

''What do they do with the sick fish?" ques- 
tioned Nora, opening her large brown eyes very 
wide. 

" They put them in the hospital-tanks! " 

^^Hospital-tanks!'' exclaimed both children. 

" Yes; Tm not joking, hospital-tanks. Professor 
Bristol, who has brought many rare fishes from 
Bermuda to the Aquarium with great success, tells 
us that: 

" * Many an anxious consultation is held over 
fishes that refuse to eat or that develop some dis- 
ease and lose their wonted vigour. This one needs 
a salve for some wound, that one is suffering from 
some fungous growth. The latter is treated by 
hydropathy literally; that is, if it is a fresh water 
fish, it is put into salt-water, and vice versa for 
the fungi that live in one kind of water cannot live 
in the other. 

" ' Sometimes a fish will refuse to eat for days, 
as did the large Moray that came from Bermuda. 
At one time this great eel fasted for eighteen days,' 
and at another time for twenty-seven, thus causing 
its caretakers the utmost anxiety. Eagerly they 
study the bill of fare provided for their patients. 
Now a live herring is offered, now a dead one; 
now a soft shell clam in the shell, now a quahog^ 
minced fine; and so on through the list until the 
fasting animal is enticed to eat. The most attrac- 
tive morsel to a moping fish seems to be a strip 

1 Little neck clams. 



THE AQUARIUM 35 

cut from a salted codfish and manoeuvered about 
on a long stick to give it the appearance of being 
alive.' 

'* There are also tanks in which are kept the 
small fishes and shrimps that are used as food for 
the larger fishes. 

'' The daily feeding of all these creatures is a 
great source of care and trouble. Three thousand 
little mouths have to be fed every day. And they 
have very varied tastes, too. Some fish are vege- 
tarians ; some are carnivorous, — that is they like 
meat; and a few are omnivorous, — 4;hat is they 
eat everything." 

" What do the vegetarian fish eat? " asked Nora. 

" Green plants and soaked cereals." 

" And the carnivorous ones? " queried Jack. 

" The canivorous fishes like soft shell clams alive 
in the shell; others turn up their snouts and noses 
at everything but little neck clams minced very 
fine; others eat live fish that they catch for them- 
selves and won't touch anything given to them; 
others dote on live shrimps, or tiny crabs ; others, 
dead fish, provided the bones are all taken out. 
All and each like a piece of salted codfish. Then 
the fish, seals, turtles, lobsters and even the tiny 
sea-anemones have different tastes and needs at 
different seasons of the year." 

" Where do they get all the food for the fishes, 
Doodle?" asked Jack, whose interest in the Aqua- 
rium was increasing rapidly, *' doesn't it take a 
great deal to feed them?" 

" You are right, my dear. To provide for 
three thousand mouths a day, even if they are 
tiny fish mouths, is certainly no small task. The 
staff of the Aquarium has both to buy food and 



36 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

to collect food. Naturally more market food is 
consumed in the winter than in the spring or 
summer; and most of this comes from Fulton 
Market. In one January the bought food con- 
sisted of 629 pounds of fish and meat and 6,600 
clams. This included 316 pounds of cod; 209 
pounds of herring; 88 pounds of smelt; 7 pounds 
of beef; and 9 pounds of liver. The meat, fish, 
and clams are sliced, chopped, or minced to suit 
the tastes of the various fishes and other creatures; 
and it takes one man half a day to prepare this 
food. A good deal of live food is kept in reserve 
tanks also; but notwithstanding this extra food, it 
costs about $100 a month to go to market for the 
Aquarium fishes. 

" The live food brought in from the bays and 
shores during the summer consists of shrimps, 
minnows, crabs, small clams, beach-fleas and small 
Crustacea for the Sea-Horses. Minnows are used 
at the rate of about a dozen quarts a day and about 
15 or 20 quarts of shrimps are eaten in a week. 
Fiddler-crabs, stone crabs and young blue crabs are 
consumed by the thousands during the year; 500 
or 600 marine worms a month and from 10,000 to 
12,000 clams during the summer." 

*' What are beach-fleas, Doodle ? " asked Jack. 

" Perhaps you know them by the name of sand- 
hoppers. They are very hard to gather. Some- 
times the collector picks them up at low tide, or 
digs them out of the sand; but the usual way is 
to spread a sheet on the beach and place a lantern 
on it. The sandhoppers come hopping and jump- 
ing on the sheet to satisfy their curiosity regarding 
the light, and the man gathers up the sheet by the 



THE AQUARIUM 37 

four corners and dumps the little creatures into 
a bucket. 

''The Sea-Horses are very hard to provide for; 
for the special sea-weed, or sea-moss, on which 
dwells the tiny little animal that they live on, is 
scarce. 

'* After a rain, when the Battery Park walks are 
filled with earth-worms that have crawled out from 
the wet grass and soft earth, the Aquarium of- 
ficials may be seen gathering up these delicious 
morsels that have tempted many a foolish fish to 
swallow the hidden hook. 

" It is very necessary for the feeder to know 
exactly what amount of food to offer in each tank, 
for nothing must be left over; otherwise, the water 
will be rendered impure, and the fish die, of course. 

" The daily menu is as follows : 

" The Horned Dog-fish has to have herring ; 
the Mud-fish, frogs and any small fish; the Carp, 
soaked wheat; the Sea-Horses die if they don't 
get their daily Gammarids ; the Bullfrog must have 
tadpoles, small frogs, and little fishes; the large 
fishes eat minnows; and the fresh water fishes, 
earth-wonns. 

*' When it comes to feeding the baby fish, you 
will probably laugh to think the young whitefish 
live on herring-roe and the baby trout and baby 
salmon have to be fed on minced liver and herring- 
roe. 

" Fresh-water Turtles require chopped beef, 
small minnows, small bits of chopped fish and 
earthworms. The Green Turtles eat mullet and 
other local fishes and refuse from the butcher's shop. 
The Sea Turtles demand fresh cod, herring, clams 



38 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

and beef, varied occasionally with sea-lettuce; and 
sometimes they like cabbage leaves. 

'' The Snapping Turtle insists on having a goodly 
supply of fishes and frogs ; and, moreover, he would 
rob a hen roost." 

"Rob a hen roost? How could he, Doodle?** 

" I didn't say he could. I said he would ; for 
he has been known to wander ashore and capture 
small chickens and turkeys. Now that we have 
taken a quick general look all around," continued 
Doodle after a pause, " don't you agree with me 
that of all strange things on our globe the things 
that live in the sea are the strangest? Can you 
imagine anything more fantastic than a Lobster or 
a Crab ? Can you imagine any stranger beings than 
the Annelids, Anemones and Sponges? What do 
you think of a Star-fish? A Sea-Urchin? A Sea- 
Horse? Then please consider the infinite variety 
of fishes — large and small — the fresh-water 
fishes and the marine fishes and the deep sea fishes 
— their peculiar shapes, and their brilliant scales ; 
and, then their shapes — thin and wedge-like, or 
flat or stodgy — their heads, their mouths, their 
fins, their eyes, — all adapted to their special habits 
of life. In some of the fishes the pectoral, or 
breast-fins, are highly developed for walking on the 
sea-bottom; some fishes have teeth; others, jaws 
like swords, or saws, intended for weapons of at- 
tack and defence; and some of the flat fishes have 
both eyes on the same side of the head, either the 
right or the left, but always on that side which is 
usually turned to the light, and colored. 

'* Do you know, it is a queer thing, but we find 
pretty nearly everything that we know on land re-" 
peated in the sea? We find Hog-fish, Dog-fish, 



THE AQUARIUM 39 

Cat-fish, Cow-fish, Rabbit-fish, Squirrel-fish, Toad- 
fish, Mutton-fish, Parrot-fish, Spotted Hind, Sea- 
Ravens, Sea-Robins, Trunk -fish, — and some things 
that we find in the sky — Moon-fish, Sun-fish, Star- 
fish and Angel-fish! And they are all here." 

"Oh, Doodle, you are joking!" 

" No ; I'm not ; come and see. But first let us 
look at the King of all Fish — the Salmon. Here 
is one that reminds me of the Salmon little Tom, 
the chimney-sweep, saw in the ocean: 

" * Such a fish ! shining silver from head to tail 
and here and there a crimson dot; with a grand 
hooked nose and a grand curling lip and a grand 
bright eye, looking round him as proudly as a king 
and surveying the water right and left as if it all 
belonged to him.' 

" Before we go any further, I should like to 
tell you something about Zoophytes; but I am go- 
ing to borrow the language of a special student, 
who can give you a better idea than I can of this 
strange work of Nature: 

" * The meaning of Zoophyte is a living plant 
and the animals included in this class are so called, 
because, in the first place, they were for a long time 
considered to be vegetables; and because, secondly, 
a vast number of individuals are found united like 
flowers on a plant, by a common stem. If you 
go down to the beach and pick up the first object — 
which you suppose to be deHcate sea-weed — you 
will probably see (with a magnifying glass) that 
it is an assemblage of horny cells, or hollowed ves- 
sels, on a stem of similar structure; and if the 
animal be alive, each cell is tenanted by a little crea- 
ture of most beautiful form and most active habits. 
All polyps are not thus clustered, but many are. 



40 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

and the distinctive characters of the class are the 
facts of their being fixedy either soHtarily or in 
masses by a stem, and their possessing arms (tent- 
acles) with which they seize their food.' 

** There is a very curious thing about a Zoophyte. 
It can be cut or torn into two or more pieces with- 
out either portion dying or apparently suffering in 
the least. Indeed, if we cut a Zoophyte in two, 
each piece will live and become an independent and 
perfect creature." 

" That is very hard to believe," sighed Nora, 
" but I suppose I'll have to ! " 

" The most beautiful of all polyps, or Zoophytes j 
are the anemones. Come and see them. 

" An Anemone gets its name from the fancied 
resemblance to the flower of that name, but it is 
much more like a Passion-flower. When closed, 
the Anemone is a mass of flesh from the size of 
a pin's head to nearly an inch in diameter. When 
it spreads its arms out in all directions to get its 
food, it sometimes measures as much as five or six 
inches across. Then it is very handsome, varying 
from every shade of red and salmon pink, olive 
green with yellow or brown stripes, white, brown, 
grey, fleshcolour. The Bermuda varieties are very 
beautiful: some have a dark red body with light 
red tentacles ; and others, an olive green body, with 
salmon coloured tentacles. Some look like chrys- 
anthemums and are crimson, purple, orange or pink 
with hundreds of petals; others resemble puckered- 
up dahlias, blood-red, sea-blue striped with pink, 
and other colours. All are alike in one respect, — 
they are very greedy. 

" In Bermuda, where so many of our Aquarium 
specimens come from, you look down through the 



THE AQUARIUM 41 

clear deep water into the sea-garden of the coral 
reefs — 

' the gardens of Nereus : 
Coral and sea-fan and tangle, the blooms 
and the palms of the ocean.' 

" The Bermuda sea-gardens are like the caves that 
we were reading about the other day in Water 
Babies. * All curtained and draped with seaweeds, 
purple and crimson, green and brown; and strewn 
with soft white sand, on which the water-babies 
sleep every night. But, to keep the place clean and 
sweet, the crabs picked up all the scraps off the 
floor and ate them like so many monkeys; while 
the rocks were covered with ten thousand sea- 
anemones and corals and madrepores who scav- 
enged the water all day long and kept it nice and 
pure. But to make up to them for having to do 
such nasty work, they were not left black and 
dirty, as poor chimney-sweeps and dustmen are. 
No; the fairies are more considerate and just than 
that ; and have dressed them all in the most beauti- 
ful colours and patterns, till they look like vast 
flower-beds of gay blossoms.' 

'' We haven't any Bermuda sea-gardens here of 
course, but we have many strange and beautiful 
sea-creatures from that far-away island, the scene 
of Prospero's fairy isle in the Tempest. In such 
bright grottoes these brilliant butterflies of the sea 
are hardly noticeable as they float lazily, or dart 
rapidly about, according to their disposition; but 
here in the green water, amid stones, sand and shells, 
they are very noticeable. 

'* Most beautiful of all is the Angel-fish. Notice 
his wing-like fins, terminating in golden streamers, 



42 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

contrasting with, or rather melting into, the tur- 
quoise blue of his scales! He floats in the water 
as peacefully as an angel might hover in the air, 
and has the irridescent gleams of a tropical butter- 
fly. He is not angelic in disposition, however, for 
he will wear out any fish that comes near him by 
chasing it almost to death, unless he can get close 
enough to it to wound it fatally with the sharp 
spur he wears on each gill cover. The Angel-fish 
attains a weight of four pounds and is of a deli- 
cious flavour." 

" I think he is too pretty to eat," said Nora. 

" But think of his evil temper," said Doodle, as 
they moved to the next tank. 

*' The Green Parrot-fish is one of the handsomest 
fish found in the waters of Bermuda and the West 
Indies. As its flesh is thought to be poisonous, it 
is never used for food. Its colours are like those 
of a parrot, as you see, and its jaws are so strong 
that it chews up the shell of the shellfish on which 
it feeds. The Blue Parrot-fish is also very beau- 
tiful. Look at the irregular narrow markings of 
light blue on its head ; and, see, there is a light blue 
spot at the base of each scale. 

" Here is another bad character, — the Surgeon, 
who carries two little lancet-like spines in his tail; 
and, like many other surgeons, inflicts wounds in- 
stead of effecting cures. Isn't he a beautiful tur- 
quoise blue? He is found in Bermuda, the West 
Indies and on the coast from South Carolina to 
Florida. 

" The Spotted Hind comes from Bermuda, the 
West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico. Look at 
his handsome suit of white, spotted profusely with 
scarlet polka dots; and see, he wears bands of 



THE AQUARIUM 43 

scarlet at intervals from his throat to his tail. He 
is quite a swell. 

'* The Trunk-fish and the Cow-fish are very 
cross and unfriendly with other kinds of fish. The 
Trunk-fish is triangular in form and its body is 
encased in shell. It grows to about eight inches 
in length, and is found all the way from Key 
West to Massachusetts, as well as in Bermuda and 
the West Indies. The Cow-fish is a near relative, 

— a first cousin. He grows as long as twenty 
inches and lives in the Chesapeake Bay and in the 
waters as far as Texas, and also on the coasts of 
Africa and Bermuda. He has two horn-like spines 
just above his eyes; and, if we get him in the right 
position, and look at him full in the face, he cer- 
tainly deserves his name. 

'' Here is a. peculiarly attractive visitor, also from 
Bermuda — the Bridefish also called Four-eyed — 
named from the big dark spots on the body near 
the tail. The pretty Squirrel-fish with his bright 
red body, large eyes and deeply forked tail, also 
comes from Bermuda. He is found, too, in the 
waters of the West Indies and off the Florida 
shore. 

" Some of the fish that dwell on our own shores 
are brilliant, too. Here is a beauty! Look at his 
pectoral fins, which are so long that fishermen call 
them wings; and he is named, — what do you think ? 

— the Sea Robin! He is one of the earliest fish to 
arrive on our coasts in the spring. The Sea Robin 
is found on our coast all the way from Cape Ann 
to South Carolina. Here is a Striped Sea Robin; 
and here is a red-winged Sea Robin :• his wings, or 
fins, are as beautiful in colour and markings as 
those of a butterfly. 



44 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Now, here is a Sea Raven : he ranges from the 
Chesapeake Bay to Nova Scotia. Some members 
of his family are orange with dark spots; others, 
are brick red with dark markings; and all of them 
have prominent eyes, heavy spines and ferocious 
expressions. For my part, I should think it would 
terrify the little fish out of their scales to see a 
Sea Raven dart at them through the waters. It 
would be enough to make them swallow their gills 
in fright." 

'*Oh; what is this!" cried Nora. "How sad 
he looks! How pale! " 

" Didn't I tell you we should see a Moon-fish ? 
Yes; he is pale and sad and greenish white and 
flat and round; and looks as if he had lost his last 
friend," answered Doodle. 

" I think he looks as if he had never had a 
friend,'' said Nora. 

" Oh, look at this queer animal ! " exclaimed 
Jack. 

'^ Animal f snorted Nora contemptuously, with 
a toss of her head. 

" Jack isn't so far wrong," laughed Doodle. 
"He is a Toad-fish!" 

" There! " cried Jack triumphantly, his eyes 
gleaming. " Tell us about it. Doodle." 

" Well, the Toad-fish uses that broad head and 
big mouth of his to burrow under rocks and stones. 
He has a queer habit of filling his mouth full of 
gravel and swimming off with it to a little distance. 
He repeats the performance until he has a burrow 
big enough to accommodate his body. 

" The Miller's Thumb is another fish that bur- 
rows under the sand and gravel and hides under 



THE AQUARIUM 45 

stones. There he is under those little stones. 
Look! 

** Here is a curious little fish — the Brook 
Stickleback. He never grows more than two and 
a half inches long. Mr. Stickleback is a very esti- 
mable husband and a kind father. He builds a 
nest, with water plants ; and after the eggs are laid 
in it, guards them until they are hatched. Then 
he watches over the young fish until they are able 
to look after themselves. After that, he brings up 
a new family, and wouldn't know his first children 
from any other fishlings. 

" Here is old Pumpkin Seed! He is only a com- 
mon sunfish; but isn't he handsome? You find 
him everywhere — on the coast from Maine to 
Georgia, and in the streams and ponds of New 
England and New York. Look at that bright 
scarlet work on his gill covers! 

" Now look at old Wall-eyed Pike ! He is hand- 
some, too, in his dark olive suit tinged with gold 
beautifully mottled. He is built for speed." 

" Oh ! anybody can see that ! " said Jack. 

*' Here is a clumsy-looking individual, — the 
Sheepshead. Wait till we get him in profile! 
There! isn't his face like a sheep? Look at those 
teeth ! 

" But talking about teeth — here is a fish, whose 
teeth are so heavy and his jaws so strong that he 
crushes up the shells of his favourite food — the 
oysters. He is the Drum; and sometimes he 
reaches eighty pounds in weight." 

" Oh ! look at this one ! " cried Nora. " What 
is he? Look! He has a double row of teeth. 
Oh! what a large mouth; and, look! he has got 



46 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

two little fishing-rods on his head ! Are those really 
fishing-rods ? " 

'* Yes ; they are. They are tentacles tipped with 
a small fleshy membrane. His nice little plan is 
to hide among the rocks, open his jaws and dangle 
these fishing-rods. Tempted by what they think is 
food, the smaller fish simply swims up and nibbles ; 
but instantly Mr. Angler draws in his fishing-rod, 
shuts up his jaws with a snap, and down goes the 
bass, or porgy, into Mr. Angler's dark cavern. 

'' Here is the Swell-fish, or Puffer, or Blower. 
He rises to the surface and fills his stomach with 
air so that he floats, belly uppermost. The Swell- 
fish has a parrot-like blue beak, but no teeth. He 
often buries himself in the sandy bottom of the 
tank with only his eyes exposed; and, when dis- 
turbed, he turns dark and splotches of black appear. 

" Everybody likes to look at the Sea-Horse ; and 
indeed he is a curious little animal. He is found 
on our coast all the way from Cape Cod to Florida ; 
and he seems to live all the year round in New 
York Bay. He varies from three to six inches 
in length; has a head like a horse; a body encased 
in a coat of mail; and a tail that curves inward. 
The latter is of very great use and comfort to him. 
He also has an accomplishment that yon can never 
learn, and that is to use his eyes separately, — and 
this is also very helpful to him in securing his 
food. His name Hippocampus comes from two 
Greek words hippos, horse and kampe, worm or 
caterpillar. He has been compared to the knight 
of the chess-board ; but what appears to be his neck, 
is really the back part of his stomach! 

" Now here is a queer thing about Sea-Horses. 
If Mr. Hippocampus has a tail like a monkey, he 



THE AQUARIUM 47 

also has a pouch Hke a kangaroo. Mrs. Hippo- 
campus places the eggs in this pouch, which is in 
front of his tail; and there they stay until they 
are fully hatched. Owing to the peculiar shape of 
its tail, the Hippocampus cannot move very quickly. 
Its position is usually vertical; the body is held 
nearly erect with the tail wound round the stem of 
a plant, or a weed, or a stick, or little stone. The 
Sea-Horse always swims in this erect position and 
its motions are very slow, except for the dorsal fin 
— that is the back fin — and pectorals — or breast- 
fins — which are rapidly moved. 

" Mr. Gill, who has studied the Sea-Horse very 
carefully, says that: 

" * The body may be thrown outward at various 
angles and even downward, and the tail wound 
around a plant in a double coil. Once in a while 
one eye may roll toward you, while another may be 
passive, or look backward, or in an opposite direc- 
tion. It becomes obvious that the little fish can 
move its eyes independently of each other and in 
entirely different ways. A comical effect is pro- 
duced by the way in which the little fishes peer at 
some object, reminding one of the actions of a very 
near-sighted person. Releasing itself at length 
from its support, one may slowly progress, still in 
a vertical position, its tail curved inward, its dorsal 
fin rapidly undulating and reminding one of a 
screw-propeller, its pectorals vibrating in harmony.' 

" These peculiar little creatures are said to make 
faint sounds. As it is a defenceless little thing. 
Nature allows it to look like the sea-weed among 
which it conceals itself and in waters where the sea- 
weeds and Zoophytes (you know now what Zoo- 
phytes are), are bright, it assumes these hues of 



48 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

red, pink or yellow. As a rule, it is light brown, 
or speckled. 

*' Its mode of feeding is strange, — and it gen- 
erally is feeding. It lives on tiny crustaceans such 
as sand-fleas which it finds on the sea-moss. It 
moves slowly toward the weed, brings its mouth up 
to the food it sees there, inflates its cheeks, — and 
captures the little crustacean. The latter has to be 
perfectly motionless on the ground or plant, because 
the Sea-Horse is too slow to get it if it is moving; 
but, it must be alive. No dead food for him ! Per- 
haps you have noticed that all the officials of the 
Aquarium wear the figure of a gold sea-horse in 
their caps as a badge. 

" The Pipe-fish is another curious creature, with 
a long pipe-like snout. Owing to the way he stands 
on his head and tumbles about, people have com- 
pared him to a clozmi. 

" You know lobsters and crabs very well ; but the 
Hermit Crab is a peculiar individual. He has no 
shell on his body, and, therefore, he has to find 
some protection for himself. He goes off house- 
hunting and when he finds an empty shell that suits 
him exactly, he takes possession of it. He has two 
small hooks at the end of his body and with these 
he catches hold of one of the spirals of the shell 
which he intends to occupy; and as his body is 
more like that of a worm than a crab, he is able to 
squirm into the spiral shell and fit himself into its 
coils. When he outgrows this shell, he has to hunt 
for a new house; and so he crawls out of his old 
quarters and goes off house-hunting again. An ob- 
server who has seen the hermit-crab hunting for a 
new residence says : ' When a hermit desires to 
change his habitation he goes through a series of 




o 



THE AQUARIUM 49 

performances, which, if he had hands, we should 
be disposed to call manipulations. A shell lies on 
the ground and the hermit seizes it with his claws 
and feet, twists it about with wonderful dexterity, 
as if testing its weight; and having examined every 
portion of its exterior, he proceeds to satisfy him- 
self about the interior. For this purpose, he 
pushes his fore legs as far into the shell as they 
will reach, and probes, with their assistance, every 
spot that can be touched. If this examination sat- 
isfies him, he whisks himself into the shell with 
such rapidity that he seems to have been acted upon 
by a spring.' 

" He is a terrible fighter and when he meets one 
of his fellows, a big battle takes place. They roll 
over each other like two dogs and use their claws 
with great violence. 

" The King Crab has been also called the Horse- 
foot and the Sauce-pan on account of its shape. It 
is a slow, stupid thing, burrows below the surface 
of the sand or mud, and is found on the coast 
from Maine to Florida. 

" The oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, winkles, 
razor-shells, drills, pear-conch, natica and others be- 
long to the family of Mollitsks. Many of them bur- 
row in the sand. Here is another peculiar group — 
the Echinoderms, which includes the Sea Urchin a 
little pin-cushion with purple spines; the curious 
Sand-Dollar which moves by means of its spines or 
bristles, and the Star-Fish, which has five flexible 
arms, and strange to say, if one of these is torn, it 
can reproduce itself in the water again and become a 
perfect Star-Fish! The Star-Fish feeds on oysters 
and mussels and he doesn't need anybody to open 
the shells for him either. The Drill has a good way 



50 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

too of eating an oyster; he hores a hole through the 
shell and then sucks out the contents. 

" Now let us look at the Annelids. This Tube- 
worm makes a conical, slightly curved tube of 
grains of sand in a single layer, held together by a 
kind of water-proof cement that he makes himself. 
This relative of his called Serpula and this one, 
called Sabella, also make tubes in which they live. 
They are regular worms and have feather-like gills. 
Serpula lives in colonies and likes to attach himself 
to a shell. When everything is quiet he sticks out of 
the tube a curious piece of himself shaped like a 
trumpet and then two bright combs which he uses 
to secure his food. But on the slightest movement 
or disturbance, he whisks these gills back into the 
tube. 

" I think if we look at this green Moray, we can 
believe in the stories of sea-serpents. He lives in 
the tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Atlantic 
and Pacific Oceans and is very plentiful about the 
rocks and coral reefs. He is very ferocious; and 
when caught, puts up a big fight. Both of his jaws 
are furnished with sharp teeth, which incline back- 
ward towards his throat. His breathing is pe- 
culiar. Watch him. See; he opens his mouth 
quite wide, taking in a quantity of water which dis- 
tends the throat and cheeks. Now see; his mouth 
closes; the throat and cheeks are contracted; and 
the water is forced out through the little round gill 
openings. The green Moray has been known to 
reach a length of twelve to fifteen feet; so I think 
he makes a pretty fair kind of sea-serpent." 

" Ugh ! " exclaimed Nora, " I think he is horrid. 
I can't bear to look at him." 



THE AQUARIUM 51 

" Now let us take a look at the West Indian 
seals," continued Doodle. " They are very rare, and 
are, perhaps, the most valuable of all the exhibits in 
the Aquarium. These three seals are the only ones 
of their kind on exhibition anywhere; and may be 
the last that will ever be seen in captivity, for they 
are nearly extinct. We must be careful, however, 
for the big one often throws a flipper full of water 
in the faces of his visitors. One queer thing about 
the seal is that when it dives, it closes its nostrils and 
ears. It uses it front flippers to swim, to move it- 
self about on the land and to climb rocks. Its hind 
flippers it uses like the screws of a ship to push 
itself through the water at great speed. 

" Some people say that the seal is responsible for 
the idea of the mermaid, — that when sailors saw it 
lying on the mist-wreathed rocks, far out in the 
sea, it suggested the figure of a woman; but for 
my part, I think some of the creatures we have 
seen to-day are just as strange as mermaids and 

mermen." 

* 

" I should like to go and find out if there are 
any," said Jack. 

" Well ; you can never do that," said Nora, em- 
phatically. 

*' Don't be too sure," replied Doodle. " It is not 
impossible. In fact, an Italian gentleman, Signor 
Pino, has invented a submarine boat that can be 
lowered from a larger boat to any depth in the 
water; and when it reaches the bottom of the ocean, 
it can be made to move along by means of a wheel 
propelled by a screw driven by electricity." 

*' Oh tell us about it. Has he ever been down 
himself?" 



52 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Many times. Hundreds of times ! " 

" What does he say it is Hke down there ? " 

" Well, for one thing, he says it is always light 
under the water; and for another thing, that when 
down below the waves a man has no more sense of 
being submerged in the water than he has on the 
earth of being drowned in the air! " 

''What is it like?" 

" Signor Pino says that the bottom of the sea is 
covered with something that looks like ashes and 
also light mud, and that sand is rarely found. At 
a certain level the sand stops and the action of 
storms is unknown. He reports that it is perfectly 
beautiful in the ocean-gardens, where he has found 
trees and shrubs like pines and firs and cypresses 
and plants and weeds of the most gorgeous colours 
you can imagine." 

"What is his boat like?" 

" Shaped like a cannon ball and made of steel 
with a funnel at the top. It is supplied with win- 
dows made of a special kind of glass through which 
the navigator can see everything that is going on 
around him. Air is pumped in from the boat above, 
and a telephone is also connected with this boat. 

" Another thing that Signor Pino has invented 
is a Hydroscope. This is an instrument that en- 
ables one to see clearly and distinctly any object in 
the water down to the bed of the sea — to any 
depth, in fact. He can also take photographs of 
whatever he perceives there. Signor Pino thinks 
that some day in the near future people will take a 
pleasure trip in a submarine boat like his to see the 
ocean-gardens just as they go now for a drive in 
an automobile, or as they will go some day in an 
air-ship. I, myself, would just as leave dive into 




-3 



o 



H 



THE AQUARIUM 53 

the water as fly through the air. But we had 
better think of flying home; for, see! they are about 
to close the doors." 

" And some one came to me and said 
The Httle fishes are in bed," 

quoted Jack, laughing. 

" But they won't let you wake them up again," 
said Nora, " even if you were to bring a corkscrew 
and a teakettle, like Humpty Dumpty." 

*' And when you found the door was shut 
You tried to turn the handle, — but — " 

continued Doodle, — " but we had better be on the 
other side of the door. Come on." 



CHAPTER III 
CENTRAL PARK 

IN WHICH DOODLE^ JACK, AND NORA EXPLORE CEN- 
TRAL PARK. 

I. From Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street to 
the Old Reservoir. 

" Do you mean to spend the whole day with vis ? " 
Nora and Jack exclaimed as they rushed into Doo- 
dle's study breathless with excitement. " We got 
your message and mother sent us over. She said 
we could come just as we were; we needn't stop to 
dress; and so we picked up our coats and hats; 
and here we are. Come on! Where are we go- 
ing?" 

'' Suppose we go to Central Park to-day, — what 
do you say? " 

'' Oh, we're so tired of going to the Park; we've 
been there so often. Can't we go to see the fishes 
again ? " 

" I doubt if you do know the Park," Doodle be- 
gan ; but Nora and Jack interrupted with — 

" Why, we've been going there all our lives. We 
rode the donkeys when we were babies and we have 
been everywhere: we've rowed on the Lake and 
we've had picnics on the grass and rocks ; and we've 
played in the snow; and last summer mother took 
us to lunch at the Casino. Oh, yes! we know the 

54 



CENTRAL PARK 55 

Park. Please take us somewhere that we have 
never been, instead." 

'' Well, as I was saying, I don't believe you know 
the Park. Can you tell me how to find the Lily 
Pond?" 

" Why no ! " 

" Do you know where the Block House is ? '' 

They shook their heads. 

" Can you take me to McGowan's Pass Tavern? " 

They looked blank. 

" Do you know where Harlem Mere is ? " 

"No!" 

" Well, then suppose we start out on an expedi- 
tion!" 

Before they started, Doodle told them all about 
Central Park; that it is two and half miles long 
and half a mile wide; but it seems even larger on 
account of the many winding drives, roads and 
walks; that there are nine miles of carriage-drives, 
six miles of bridle-paths, many of which are sunken, 
and thirty miles of walks; that there are thirty-six 
bridges, or archways, nineteen entrances and 
twelve tunnels ; that there are seats for ten-thousand 
persons, many of which are in vine-covered arbours; 
that altogether the Park contains about 843 acres, 
of which 286 are occupied by lakes and reservoirs. 

" Plow much is an acre, Doodle ? " asked Nora. 

" Well, I hardly know how to tell you," replied 
Doodle. " Let me see : Madison Square is about 
seven acres and Union Square is about three and a 
half acres. Central Park, then, is about a hundred 
and twenty times as big as Madison Square and two 
hundred and forty times as big as Union Square. 

'* Our Park is a very you,ng park," Doodle went on 
to explain^ for the children were now listening in- 



r56 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

tently. " It is only a little more than sixty years 
old. In 1 85 1 the citizens of New York began to 
take steps to make a park, or pleasure-ground, and 
selected the tract of land bounded by Fifth and 
Eighth Avenues and reaching from Fifty-ninth to 
One Hundred and Sixth Street. The work was 
finished in 1855, and the land valued at $5,398,695. 
Soon afterwards the State Arsenal and grounds 
were purchased for $275,000, and added to the 
Park. You know the Arsenal? It is the old Men- 
agerie building. 

" I wonder what Peter Minuit would think of 
such a price, when he bought the whole Island of 
Manhattan, as I told you, for twenty-four dollars! 
In 1859, the boundary was extended to One Hun- 
dred and Tenth Street; and in 1864, Manhattan 
Square, a space of nineteen acres near Seventy- 
first and Eighty-first Streets and Eighth Avenue, 
was included. 

" You have no idea what a great work it was to 
turn this barren wilderness of dreary rocks, swampy 
valleys and stagnant fens into the sylvan spot you 
know, or rather that you don't know. We are told 
that * It was for the most part a succession of 
stone-quarries, interspersed with pestiferous 
swamps. The entire ground was the refuge of 
about five thousand squatters, dwelling in rude huts 
of their own construction, and living off the refuse 
of the city which they daily conveyed in small carts, 
chiefly drawn by dogs from the lower part of the 
city through Fifth Avenue (then a dirt road run- 
ning over hills and hollows). This refuse they 
divided among themselves and a hundred thousand 
domestic animals and fowls, reserving the bones 
for the bone-boiling establishment situated within 



CENTRAL PARK 57 

the area. Horses, cows, swine, goats, dogs, cats, 
geese and chickens swarmed everywhere, destroy- 
ing what Httle verdure they found. Even the roots 
in the ground were exterminated until the rocks 
were laid bare, giving an air of utter desolation to 
the scene, made more repulsive from the odours of 
the decaying organic matter which accumulated in 
the beds of the old watercourses that ramified the 
surface in all directions, broadening out into reek- 
ing swamps wherever their channels were inter- 
cepted. These people who had thus over-run and 
occupied the territory were principally of foreign 
birth, with but very little knowledge of the English 
language and with very little respect for the law. 
Like the ancient Gauls, they wanted land to live 
on, and they took it ; and, like the Gauls, they pre- 
pared to defend their occupancy at the very sugges- 
tion of its invasion; no matter by whom. Such 
was the danger of the situation that the designer of 
the Park was compelled to go armed while making 
his studies, and, in addition to this, to carry an 
ample supply of deodorizers.' 

" It was a great task to alter and beautify such a 
desert. Wisely enough the designers left much of 
the natural rock, which forms a distinctive feature 
of the Park; and then they scooped out valleys and 
ravines, planted long stretches of grassy sward, 
drained the marshes and converted them into lakes 
and ponds, and left what native trees they could 
and planted many others from far-away states and 
foreign countries. Carriage-drives, bridle-paths and 
winding walks they had to devise before they embel- 
lished every nook and corner with flowering trees 
and shrubs. As early as 1862, the Menagerie was 
started. The animals were housed in the Arsenal, 



58 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

while a little deer-park was situated on the site now 
occupied by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Peo- 
ple soon began to take interest in the Park and many 
gifts were bestowed upon it, — particularly statues. 

** The first gift was the bronze bust of Schiller, 
presented by the German residents in 1859 and 
which is placed in the Ramble, and the second 
one was the large bronze bust of the German trav- 
eller, Humboldt, which they gave in 1869. Among 
the others are a statue of Professor Morse, the in- 
ventor of the telegraph, near the Fifth Avenue and 
Seventy-second Street entrance; an enormous bust 
of the Italian revolutionist, Mazzini, on the West 
Drive near Seventy-second Street; a bronze statue 
of Daniel Webster, not far away from Mazzini; a 
statue of Alexander Hamilton on the East Drive 
northwest of the Metropolitan Museum; and sev- 
eral statues -and busts in the Mall. Besides these, 
we must look for the Soldier of the Seventh Regi- 
ment, commemorating the soldiers who lost their 
lives in the Civil War, on the West Drive near Maz- 
zini's bust ; the Pilgrim, in memory of the Landing 
of the Pilgrim Fathers on Plymouth Rock in 1620, 
standing near the Lake, where the roadway crosses 
the Eastern Drive ; the Eagles and Goat, east of the 
Mall; the Falconer, not far from Webster's statue; 
the Tigress and Young, west of the Terrace ; and the 
Still Hunt, not far from the Obelisk overlooking the 
East Drive." 

" Doodle," asked Jack, " why are the entrances to 
the Park called ' Gates,' and there are no gates ? " 

" The original idea was to build nineteen deco- 
rative gates; and like the White Queen in Alice in 
the Looking Glass, who used to scream before any- 
thing happened, the Park people named the gates 



CENTRAL 



WEST 







Fifth avenue 

Map of Central Park. The red line shows the itinerary. 



CENTRAL PARK 59 

before they were erected. I wonder if I can name 
them all : 

" The Fifth Avenue Gates are the Scholars' at 
Fifty-ninth Street; College Gate at Sixty-seventh; 
the Childrens' at Seventy-second; the Miners' at 
Seventy-ninth; the Engineers' at Ninetieth; the 
Woodmen's at Ninety-sixth ; the Girls' at One Hun- 
dred and Second; and the Pioneers' at One Hun- 
dred and Tenth. There are two Sixth Avenue 
Gates — the Artists', at Fifty-ninth Street, and the 
Farmers' at One Hundred and Tenth. Seventh 
Avenue also has but two — the Artisans' at Fifty- 
ninth Street and the Warriors' at One Hundred and 
Tenth. The Eighth Avenue Gates are the Mer- 
chants' at Fifty-ninth Street; the Women's at Sev- 
enty-second; the Hunters' at Seventy-ninth; the 
Mariners' at Eighty-fifth; the Gate of All Saints at 
Ninety-sixth ; the Boys' at One Hundredth ; and the 
Strangers' at One Hundred and Tenth Street." 

Doodle then told them as they walked along that 
the most attractive features in the Park are the 
trees and flowering shrubs, and that it would re- 
quire a long long time to learn all the varieties of the 
ordinary trees that are there. For instance, there 
are fifteen different kinds of elms ; nineteen of ma- 
ples; fourteen of birches; thirteen of oaks; ten of 
the cherry; nine of the willow; nine of the pine; 
eight of the hickory; and six of the yew; that alto- 
gether there are more than a million and a half 
trees and shrubs ; and besides, there are many choice 
varieties from foreign countries, most of which are 
labelled. 

" Many of the trees you know," continued 
Doodle, " cypress trees and cedar trees, larches, 
firs and pines'; the oaks and elms; walnuts, chestnuts, 



6o THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

butternuts, poplars, beeches, birches and lindens; 
aspens that tremble with the slightest breeze; 
cottonwoods, honey-locust, ailanthus, alders, moun- 
tain-ash, catalpas, willows, sycamores and per- 
simmons, — all of these you know; I am sure you 
do. 

" I doubt, however, if you have ever noticed 
the lovely English hawthorns that blossom in 
masses of pink and white in the early spring; and 
I am certain that you could not pick out the Ken- 
tucky Coffee Tree; the Smoke Tree; the Silver 
Bell; the Japanese Quince; the Japan Pagoda; the 
Japan Lemon; the Japan Cedar; the Cucumber 
Tree; the Chinese Golden Larch; the Deodar; the 
Cedar of Lebanon; the Chinese Cork; the Double 
Flowering Chinese Crab Apple; the Mahaleb 
Cherry; or the Gingko Tree? Now, could you?" 

By this time they had reached the Plaza, the 
chief entrance to the Park at Fifth Avenue and 
Fifty-ninth Street and they had stopped to look at 
the impressive equestrian statue of General Sher- 
man, preceded by Victory, that faces Fifth Avenue, 
by the American sculptor. Saint Gaudens. 

" If we could take a bird's eye view of the 
Park," said Doodle, " we would see that we are 
standing at the beginning of the big Drive, which 
leads to the Mall. Turning off to the east it is called 
East Drive and turning off to the west, it is called 
West Drive. Both roads unite and form one big 
circle around the New Reservoir. We are going 
to stroll now from the Fifty-ninth street entrance 
along the path by the Drive a little way and then 
past the Pond. 

" Well, there's the Pond — about five acres of 
it. Let us walk along beside it. How picturesque 



CENTRAL PARK 6l 

it is! And see the swans and water-birds. Here 
we can turn to the right and reach the East Drive. 
By bearing to the right again we might reach the 
Menagerie, where some of the animals are housed, 
and the Arsenal." 

" Are we going to see the animals? " 

" No, Jack, I think not, for we are going to the 
Zoological Park soon. Let us follow the Drive 
till we reach the Mall." 

After a little the path turned to the left. In 
front of them was a road. 

*' Now, if we cross the road, we shall be there. 

" What a promenade the Mall is — wide and 
beautiful, arched by its double row of American 
elms beneath which are seats and statues of famous 
men, as you see. There is the statue of Shake- 
speare; there is Robert Burns; there is Sir Walter 
Scott; and there, farther along on the right, is 
Fitz-Greene Halleck, a New York poet of the early 
Nineteenth Century." 

Continuing their walk, they approached the 
northern end of the Mall. On their way they 
passed some children riding in little carriages drawn 
by goats. 

*' You see," said Doodle, " we are now in the 
midst of the amusements. We are not very far 
from the Carousel with the swings and merry-go- 
rounds; and, if you like. Jack, you and Nora can 
have a drive in one of these carriages." 

" I don't fide in goat-carriages," said Nora 
haughtily. 

" No, she's waiting to ride on the big elephant 
in the Zoological Park. She's crazy to ride on 
Gunda," said Jack. 

*' So are you," retorted Nora. " You said so 



62 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

this morning; you said you hoped Doodle would 
take us to the Zoological Park to-day, so that we 
could ride on Gunda." 

*' I know I did," replied Jack, " and I did, and — 
Oh, Doodle won't you take us to the Zoological 
Park next? Please darling, dear Doodle." 

"Oh do!" begged Nora. 

" We'll see," Doodle answered ; " but here we 
are close to the Marble Arch over the sunken 
pathway. On our left is the Music Pavilion, where 
concerts are given in the summer. Near this 
stands the colossal bust of Beethoven with a figure 
of Music on the pedestal below. 

*' And here on the left, between the walk and the 
road on our way to the Terrace there stood until 
very recently, English oak known as the Prince of 
Wales's Oak. This was long the most famous tree 
in the Park, for it was planted by King Edward 
in 1 86 1, when he was travelling through the 
country, and it died last spring shortly before he did. 

" How lovely it is here. Spring has waved her 
magic wand and the first warm touch of the sun 
has quickened everything into life. The Forsythia 
is joyfully ringing its yellow bells, the spice bushes 
are bursting out in a mass of yellow blooms; the 
snow-white Bridalwreath is filling the air with its 
delicious scent; the honeysuckle, too, is sweet on 
the air; the Japanese Lemon tree displays its 
flowers of whipped cream ; and the privet is scatter- 
ing incense from its white blossoms. Here the 
tulip-tree is holding up its pink and white cups 
to be filled with sunlight; over there, the Judas- 
tree flushes pink and the Dogwood stretches out 
its snowy boughs among the other trees ; here is 
blooming Linden tree, sweetly fragrant ; over there 



CENTRAL PARK 63 

a group of Magnolias are bursting their white buds ; 
here is a mass of pink and white Cherry trees 
(how beautiful they are!) and over there is an 
English hawthorn foaming with blossoms. We 
also see, crowning the rising ground at the north 
end of the Mall on the right, a great purple mist. 
What can it be ? Nothing in the world but clusters 
of Wistaria that have completely covered the per- 
gola. And behind the pergola, across a road, is the 
restaurant known as the Casino. But enough talk 
of flowers, and trees, and flowering shrubs, and 
pergolas. Come along and let us take a few steps 
more." 

They now reached the road at the north end 
of the Mall. Doodle led the way across it : 

" Now we have come to the Terrace at which 
the Mall ends. This is one of the most admired 
places in the Park. You see it is built of yellow- 
tinted stone, delicately carved with birds, animals, 
fruits and flowers. The central stairway leads 
down beneath the roadway, while the two wide 
flights of steps on each side descend to the Espla- 
nade that extends to the Lake. Vases of blooming 
plants decorate the balustrade at intervals, and here 
is the large bronze Bethesda Fountain, representing 
an angel blessing the waters." 

" What for? " inquired Nora. 

" Jack will tell you," Doodle answered. 

"I don't know," said Jack. "You'll have to 
tell us." 

" Once there was a pool in Jerusalem near the 
sheep market, called Bethesda, famous for its heal- 
ing waters ; for at certain times an angel came and 
* troubled the waters,' as the Bible says, and then 
whoever was the first to step into the pool after 



64 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

the angel had caused the waters to move was cured 
of his disease; and, therefore, a multitude of blind, 
lame persons afflicted with every kind of illness 
gathered there in great numbers to wait for the 
angel's appearance." 

" Where did the angel come from, and was it 
a man or a woman ? " 

" I don't know," said Doodle. " Let us look at 
this one anyhow, which was designed by an Ameri- 
can woman sculptor, Miss Emma Stebbins, of 
New York. The angel is eight feet high, holds 
a bunch of lilies — emblems of purity — in one 
hand, and seems to have just alighted on the rocks 
from which the water flows. The small figures 
below the upper basin are Purity, Temperance, 
Health and Peace." 

For some time they enjoyed this pretty view of 
the Terrace, leading directly to the Lake, which 
covers twenty acres, and which is always gay in 
summer with boats and at intervals in winter with 
skaters. Here in spring and summer there is a 
mass of flowers and blossoming shrubs such as 
roses, honeysuckle, wistaria, rhododendrons and aza- 
leas; in the summer, hydrangeas and lilies, plume- 
like grasses and the tall yucca with its staff of white 
bells make the spot charming while the basin of the 
fountain is usually aglow with pink and purple 
lotus flowers. Perhaps it is still more beautiful in 
the autumn when the trees are turning and dis- 
play every shade of lemon, orange, red, pink and 
purple. 

Resuming their walk and going south, they soon 
reached the Ball Ground. Now they were on the 
West side of the Park. 

" What fine large trees are here ! " exclaimed 



CENTRAL PARK 65 

Doodle. " That big rock in the distance is called 
Umpire Rock. Very often at certain times of the 
day it assumes a purplish hue which contrasts beau- 
tifully with the green grass and the trees. How 
nice it is to hear the leaves rustle above us, and 
watch the flickering shadows ! And what sport the 
boys and girls have here — merry, laughing crowds ! 

'' South of this Ball Ground is the Green or 
Common, of sixteen acres, where the red flag flut- 
tering from the tall pole is the signal that every- 
body is free to walk on the grass. The flock of 
sheep is pastured there and what crowds go there 
to enjoy themselves on Sunday afternoons in the 
summer! Well, we have gone far enough. Let 
us retrace our steps to the Terrace. And from 
there, we will make for the bridge that crosses 
the Lake — Bow Bridge, it is called, and it is the 
prettiest bridge in the park. It spans a narrow 
strait of the lake." 

Bow Bridge reached. Doodle continued: 

" Let us stop here and look at the boats and 
the swans. This is the place to see the swans. 
Aren't they graceful! How softly they drop into 
the water ! How gently and yet with w^hat a grand 
air they push off to ' float double, swan and shadow^ ' 
on the clear water ! 

" The swans of Central Park are no upstart birds, 
I can assure you. The old ones can tell their little 
cygnets stories of how their stately ancestors used 
to float and swirn over the blue Alster lakes at 
Hamburg and on the silvery Thames. In i860 
twelve fine swans were sent to the Park as a pres- 
ent from the city of Hamburg; and, when nine 
died soon after their arrival, more were sent. Not 
long afterwards the Vintners' Company of London 



66 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

sent twelve pairs and the Dyers' Company, thir- 
teen pairs, from the Thames. The Thames swans 
are famous. In England, the swan is a royal bird ; 
and all stray swans not identified belong to the 
Crown. The bills of the birds are always nicked, 
therefore, and the swan-nicking, which takes place 
in the spring, is quite an exciting season for the 
little birds. The swan-mark is cut in the upper 
mandible. 

" In olden times the King's Swan-keeper was a 
very important personage. The male swan is called 
a Cob and the female swan, a Pen, and it is the 
Cob that sits up so proudly on the water. Mrs. Swan 
swims much lower than her noble spouse. The 
swan's nest is a great mass of rushes, reeds, flags 
and coarse water-side plants, pitched on the ground 
near the water. The Pen lays six or seven greenish 
white eggs and it takes six weeks to hatch them; 
and during that time the Cob keeps guard against 
all invaders and often sits on the nest to give Mrs. 
Swan a rest. The little ones are not very hand- 
some. You remember the Hans Andersen's story 
of the Ugly Duckling, don't you?" 

" I do," said Jack. 

" I don't," said Nora. 

" No, you don't know it, Nora, Doodle read it 
to me the day you were in bed with that bad sore 
throat," Jack explained. 

*' I'll have to read it again then," answered 
Doodle, " and we'll also read Mrs. Browning's 
beautiful Romance of a Swan's Nest, if you will 
remind me." 

" Is that the one that begins ' Little Ellie sits 
alone,' " said Nora, who was very fond of poetry, 
" I love that." 



CENTRAL PARK 67 

" I think the swans and other aquatic birds seem 
to enjoy midsummer more than any other time of 
the year, for the reeds and grasses are so high and 
so full of insects. They can always have a nice 
salad. They love to hide in the greenery of the 
banks and islands as much as they enjoy sailing on 
the cool waters of the lake and pond. 

*' Let us cross the bridge now," continued Doodle, 
" and stroll about the Ramble." 

" Talking about birds," Doodle continued, 
" somebody gave the Park, in 1864, a present of 
seven pairs of English sparrows ; and they proved 
a very unfortunate gift. These birds bred so fast 
and are so cross to other birds and are such hot 
little fighters and generally so hard to live with, 
that they have driven nearly all of our native birds 
away. They haven't, however, disturbed the hun- 
dreds of squirrels that are so tame and yet so lively." 

By this time they had crossed the bridge. A 
few rods of walking up a little slope and to the 
right and the party was deep in this, in some re- 
spects, the most delightful part of the Park, and 
Doodle went on: 

'' Here we find winding paths, pretty little 
bridges, shady nooks, unexpected thickets, steps 
cut into the rocks, cool, shady dells, sparkling 
streams and tiny cascades tinkling over mossy 
rocks. Every inch of ground has been so skilfully 
used that the Ramble seems much larger than it 
really is : it is quite wild enough to suggest the 
woods. Let us try to find the bust of Schiller that 
I told you about." 

After wandering about a little they finally dis- 
covered the effigy of the great German poet. 

" Here he is at last," exclaimed Doodle, *' and 



68 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

very secluded, too. And what do you think of 
Schiller?" 

Nora declared that the poet looked very lonely 
in that out-of-the-way place, half buried in the 
trees and shrubs. 

The Ramble was very charming in its spring attire 
for so many shrubs were on the point of blooming 
while others were quite advanced. After leaving 
Schiller, they climbed the steep little hill and soon 
reached the Cave. 

" Here is the Cave," said Doodle. " We will go 
down the steps cut in the rock and go through. 
How dark and damp and dismal it is ! " 

" It makes me think of ogres and robbers," said 
Jack. 

'' I don't like it," Nora half whispered, taking hold 
of Doodle's hand. 

" Now that we have come out, there, just to the 
north, is the Belvedere," said Doodle. "If we like 
we can climb to the top of the tower, and get a fine 
view of the Park and the City." 

No sooner said than done. 

" We are now in the highest part of the Park. 
This blue water to the north of us is the Old Reser- 
voir." 

After enjoying the fine prospect, they descended 
the Belvedere's stone stairs, and stood upon the 
platform. 

" We can leave the Park here by the Mariners' 
Gate at Eighty-fifth Street and Eighth Avenue," 
said Doodle, " or, we can go east by the lovely little 
shaded lawn, lined with graceful trees and shrubs, 
that runs between the Reservoir and Transverse 
Road No. 3. Turn about facing the south ! Now 



CENTRAL- PARK 69 

on our left, is the path that will lead us to something 
worth seeing." 

A short walk brought them to the great monolith. 

" See ! On that knoll stands the Obelisk, and a 
little beyond it, the Metropolitan Museum. 

" Look at that tall shaft of red granite, seventy 
feet high, with reverence, for it is nearly three thou- 
sand, five hundred years old! You are looking at 
something that Moses may have gazed upon. Solon 
and Plato, two of the wisest men of Greece, certainly 
saw it, for they studied in the famous college of 
priests in the city of Heliopolis, where it was set up 
with its companion in 1650 B. C, more than three 
thousand years ago, by Thothmes, the Third, King, 
or Pharaoh, of Egypt. Heliopolis was the city of 
the Sun whom the Egyptians worshipped as the 
god Ra." 

"What kind of a city is Heliopolis, Doodle?" 
asked Jack. 

" There is no Heliopolis now," Doodle replied, 
" nothing but some blocks of stone and one enormous 
obelisk, — one of the oldest in Egypt." 

'' What is an obelisk, Doodle? " asked Jack. 

" You are looking at one," was the answer, " an 
Egyptian shaft, or column, covered with inscrip- 
tions. The name is Greek and means roasting-spit, 
for when the Greeks went to Egypt and saw these 
peculiar monuments they described them as skewers, 
or roasting-spits. The Egyptians called this kind 
of shaft tekhen, buf nobody knows what that word 
means. 

*' Our obelisk and its companion were more than 
a thousand years old when Augustus Caesar took 
them to Alexandria in the year 22 or 23 B. C. It 



70 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

was not very far to go, but it must have been a task 
to move them. In Alexandria they became known 
as Cleopatra's Needles and the name still clings to 
them. When George IV. became King of England 
in 1820, the Egyptians gave one of them to him for 
a present, and this now stands on the Thames Em- 
bankment. 

'' Ours was a present from the Khedive of Egypt 
in 1879. The great question was how to get it 
here. Mr. William H. Vanderbilt gave the neces- 
sary money to bring it. The great question was 
how to get it here, because it was so tall and so 
heavy," Doodle repeated. 

" How much does it weigh ? " asked Jack. 

" Four hundred and forty thousand pounds/' 

" Whew ! " exclaimed Jack. 

" Whew ! " echoed Nora. 

" How did they manage ? " asked Jack. 
" Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe, who was given 
charge of the whole matter, had made in this coun- 
try under his orders, special machinery which he 
took to Alexandria. This was put up there, and the 
great stone was lifted from its pedestal without any 
harm. Then a steamer, the Dessoug, was bought 
for its passage, and Cleopatra's Needle was en- 
cased in oak-planks and then put into the hull of the 
boat. The Dessoug left Alexandria in June, 1880, 
and arrived here in July; but it was not until the 
next January that the obelisk was set up and dedi- 
cated. The reason we know so much about our 
obelisk is that on the clav/s of those bronze crabs 
that you see at the base, the Greek engineer who put 
up the obelisk in Alexandria nineteen hundred odd 
years ago inscribed his name and the date." 



CENTRAL PARK 71 

" Why did he choose crabs, Doodle ? " asked 
Nora. 

" Only for ornament. He supported the obelisk 
on metal rods, and these were passed through the 
bodies of bronze crabs for the sake of ornament.** 

*' Does anybody know what the writing on the 
obelisk means ? " Nora inquired. 

" Yes. There are two inscriptions : one refers 
to Thothmes the Third, and the other to Rameses 
the Second; both are complimentary. Each king 
calls himself * beloved of the Sun-god Ra,' whom he 
considers as his father; and he calls Egypt, over 
which he reigns, the greatest of all kingdoms. 

" I wonder what the Obelisk thinks of the New 
World; if it ever longs for the sands of the desert, 
the broken columns lying on the ground, the palm- 
trees and the sunsets on the Nile; and if the rays 
of Ra, to whom it is dedicated, ever warm it as 
they did in the land of the Sphinx and the Pyra- 
mids ! One thing we do know, — and that is that 
the hieroglyphs have suffered from our climate 
which is too severe for it. There is one peculiar 
thing about hieroglyphs that I didn't tell you: you 
have to read them downwards instead of across." 

The three now walked south through the pretty 
glade, until they reached Conservatory Pond, where 
they found a distinguished company of little sailors 
gathered together, intent on sailing their boats. 

*' I doubt," remarked Doodle, " if so many ad- 
mirals and captains were ever seen together as come 
here daily with their nurses to launch their crafts 
on perilous voyages. Shall we stop and look at 
them?" 

" I used to come here," said Jack, " with my little 



72 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

boat — the Phyllis; and once she sailed away 
from me to the middle of the Pond; and I cried — 
I was so silly — and a big boy got her for me." 

" I was with you," said Doodle. " I remember 
perfectly. Now we will go south, up the hill, over 
the Drive and go to the Casino. There we will 
have some lunch; and then we will explore the 
upper part of the Park. How does that strike 
you?" 

" Fine ! " exclaimed Jack. 

" Fine ! " echoed Nora. 

"What do you think of Central Park now?" 
asked Doodle, after they were comfortably seated 
and had ordered their luncheon. " Do you like it, 
well enough to see the rest of it or shall we go 
home?" 

" Oh, we don't want to go home," they both ex- 
claimed. 

" Then we will call a taxicab and drive around 
the upper part of the Park after lunch." 

2. From the Old Reservoir North, 

After luncheon they called the taxicab and started 
off, much refreshed and ready for exploring the 
upper part of the Park, north of the Old Reservoir, 
which was very unfamiliar to the children. 

Flying up the East Drive they again passed the 
Metropolitan Museum and the Obelisk, which had a 
new interest for them, and came to the big Reser- 
voir that occupies a hundred and nine acres and ex- 
tends almost the entire width of the Park from 
Fifth to Eighth Avenue and from Eighty-seventh 
to Ninety-sixth Streets. They enjoyed seeing the 
other cabs and carriages and the occasional horse- 
back riders galloping along the Bridle Path that 



CENTRAL PARK 73 

also encircles this big sheet of water. Their cab 
swept round to the left and then took them along 
the West Drive. On their right lay the big North 
Meadow, the grassy lawn of nineteen acres where 
picnic and May-parties enjoy themselves in perfect 
freedom, and beyond the North Meadow and on 
their left the pretty Lily Pond near the entrance of 
Eighth Avenue and One Hundredth Street. 

From the Lily Pond, they flew up the West Drive 
and around the circle at the top of the hill — the 
Concourse. As the cab whirled about here Doodle 
explained that they were looking upon historic 
ground. North of them were both Washington 
Heights and Harlem Heights, famous in the 
strife between the American and the British sol- 
diers. 

" Let us leave the cab here/' said Doodle, telling 
the chauffeur to await them at the gate at One Hun- 
dred and Tenth Street and Lenox Avenue. 

" Now WQ will find the Block House," said Doo- 
dle. " It lies to the east and north across the drive." 

Walking in the direction named they soon ap- 
proached, through the trees and underbrush, the ris- 
ing ground. On a hill top before them, with a pre- 
cipitous fall of great ragged rocks to the east of it, 
and with rocky approaches on the other three sides, 
stood the old, four-square Block House, from the 
loopholes and top of which a raking fire would have 
done desperate executiQn among any band of Red- 
coats that might have ventured to storm it. 

" What is it for, and why was it built ? " queried 
Jack. 

Doodle, by way of reply, pointed to a bronze 
tablet over the massive iron door on the west wall, 
on which was inscribed: 



74 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" This blockhouse was part of a line of fortifi- 
cations extending from the Hudson to the Harlem 
River built for the defence of New York by its pa- 
triotic citizens during the War of 1812-1815. This 
tablet was erected by The Woman's Auxiliary to the 
American Scenic & Historic Preservation Society, 
A. D., 1905." 

" Such," said Doodle, " is the purpose of this 
bellicose relic of earlier and troubled days, when we 
and the Old Country were at swords' points." 

Jack jumped for the lowest of the loopholes and 
peered into the enclosure within, half-expecting to 
be challenged by some sturdy compatriot, musket 
in hand, whom he thought might still haunt this 
fortification. Nora was lifted by Doodle till her 
eyes were level with the aperture in question and 
she, too, had her glimpse. 

Jack meantime had pulled out his dangerous- 
looking jackknife and was busily, if not very effect- 
ually, boring and prodding into the mortar that held 
the old stones strongly together. 

" What now ! " said Doodle. " Why this spirit 
of vandalism and destruction? Have you no rev- 
erence for a valued relic of our historic past? " 

Jack did not seem disturbed by the question, but 
kept busily at work. 

" I am trying to dig out some British bullets that 
I'm sure were shot into this fort one hundred years 
ago," he vouchsafed. 

Doodle smiled : " Many a youngster, older now 
than your old Doodle, has probed these gray walls 
with the same vain hope. If ever British bullets 
plunged into the venerable sides of this Block 
House they have long since been dug out by such 
sappers and miners as you." 




The Obelisk, 



CENTRAL PARK 75 

" Did the British ever shoot this fort full of 
bullets? " asked Nora. 

'' That," said Doodle, with an air of finality, " is 
a question I decline to answer. Let us now return 
to Lenox Avenue and to our taxicab. The charges 
on that taxi are eating up my entire fortune, and 
Aveek after next you will both have to call at the 
Poor House, if you wish to see your old Doodle." 

The heartless children seemed little disturbed by 
these gloomy prognostications; but they followed 
cheerfully Doodle's lead. Their cab was waiting 
and Doodle now told the chauffeur to take them 
home by way of Harlem Mere and McGowan's Pass 
Tavern. 

" This lake," said Doodle to the children, " cov- 
ers more than twelve acres, and is the most beautiful 
of all the Park lakes. It takes its name from the 
Haarlem Meer in Holland, a great big sea that was 
drained and converted into a fertile land, now 
dotted with villages, houses and luxuriant gar- 
dens." 

The cab flew along past the Conservatory, the 
Nursery Gardens and past McGowan's Pass Tavern. 
Doodle now told them that in the old days before 
there was any Central Park, and when New York 
was a tiny little city the old Boston Post Road 
passed through a kind of ravine at about what is 
now One Hundred and Sixth Street. At the en- 
trance of this valley there was a path called Mc- 
Gowan's Pass. Several skirmishes were fought 
here during the Revolutionary War and here the 
American troops camped on November 24, 1783, 
the night before they marched into New York when 
the British evacuated. 

" Now for home ! " said Doodle. 



ye THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

The New Reservoir was passed again, the Obe- 
lisk, and the Museum. Then, in a few moments, 
swinging round to the left, the taxicab swept out of 
the gate at Seventy-second Street and Fifth Av- 
enue, while the party waved '' au revoir " to Central 
Park. 



CHAPTER IV 
A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 

» 

PART I 

IN WHICH THE LONG-LOOKED FOR VISIT AT LAST 
TAKES place; JACK AND NORA MAKE THE AC- 
QUAINTANCE OF MANY STRANGE ANIMALS AND 
BIRDS AND HEAR STORIES REGARDING THEIR 
HABITS AND CHARACTER. 

" Well, I am glad we are here at last ! " ex- 
claimed Jack, as Doodle, Nora and he stepped out 
of the Subway Terminus at One Hundred and 
Eightieth Street and walked down the stairs. " I 
thought we should never get here, and I have been 
wanting to come for years f' 

** And so have I," said Nora, " for years and 
years; and now here we are ! Oh ! we are going to 
drive there! " she added, as Doodle entered into ne- 
gotiations with a cabman. 

Everything being satisfactorily arranged, they 
were soon spinning along the Boston Post Road, 
with the Bronx Lake on their right and the Zoolog- 
ical Park on their left in the beautiful garb of early 
summer. First they passed the Boat House on their 
right, and then the Buffalo Entrance on their left, 
catching a glimpse of the shaggy buffaloes grazing in 
their enclosure. The obliging cabman stopped a 
moment, so that they could see these animals, roam- 
ing at will in their twenty acres of meadow land. 

77 



78 



THE CHILDREN'S CITY 



DIRECTORY 

TO 

NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
Administration Bldg., 8. Fox Dens, 23, 



Alaskan House, 32. 
Alligator Pool, 36. 
Antelope House, 50. 
Bear Dens, 37. 
Beaver Pond, 29. 
Biological Laboratory, 

28 A. 
Bird House, Aquatic, 5. 
Bird House, Large, 7. 
Bison, 51. 
Boat House, 54. 
Buffalo Herd, 52. 



Goats, Mountain, 48. 
Lion House, 15. 
Llama House, 38. 
Lydig Arch, 47. 
Mammal House, Small, 

35- 
Mountain Sheep Hill, 

44. 
Ostrich House, 43. 
Otter Pools, 31. 
Pavilion, Shelter, 26. 
Pheasant Aviary, 40. 



Burrowing Animals, 42. Polar Bear Den, 37. 



Cage, Flying, 4. 
Camel House, 39. 
Deer, Asiatic, i. 
Deer, American, 30. 
Deer, Axis and Sika, 2. 
Deer, Fallow, 53. 
Deer, Red, 10. 
Deer House, Small, 49. 
Duck Aviary, 3. 
Elephant House, 20. 
Elk Range, 21. 
Feed Barn, 27. 
Flying Cage, 4. 
Fountain, Rockefeller, 

13- 



Prairie Dogs, 41. 
Primate House, 17. 
Puma and Lynx House, 

33 A. 
Raccoon's Tree, 44 A. 
Reptile House, 34. 
Restaurant, 46. 
Riding Animals, 6. 
Rocking Stone, 45. 
Sea Lion Pool, 12. 
Service Bldg., 28. 
Subway Station, 
Totem Pole, 32. 
Turkeys, Wild, 33. 
Wolf Dens, 22. 



Zebra Houses, 14. 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 79 




PLAN OF THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK 



8o THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Perhaps you know," said Doodle, " that the 
American Buffalo, or Bison, that once roamed all 
over the Western Plains, is nearly extinct. The 
buffalo sheds his coat in the spring, and about 
October or November puts on his extra winter 
clothing. His disposition is fairly good, though he 
is often stubborn. Sometimes, however, an old 
bull grows vicious and has to be separated from the 
rest of the family. The patriarch of this herd, 
Cleveland, was caught in the Texas Panhandle in 
1887. 

" The Park also owns two specimens of the now 
rare European Bison, which were presented in 1904, 
by the Prince of Pless, who owns a small herd in 
Silesia. The European Bison has very long legs 
and a very short body; but has less hair on his 
head, neck and shoulders, than his American cousin. 
He has longer horns, however." 

The next thing to interest them as they drove 
along was the Rocking-Stone Restaurant on the 
ridge to the left. " That is where we shall have 
our lunch," said Doodle. 

During their enjoyable drive of about twenty 
minutes, Doodle explained that it was rather hard to 
plan a trip around the Zoological Park because it 
comprised no less than two hundred and sixty-four 
acres of ground, through which the animals were 
widely scattered; and, that, although generally 
speaking, the Park was about a mile long and three- 
fifths of a mile wide, the walks and paths were so 
numerous that to go over the whole Park in one 
visit would be impossible. It would, therefore, be 
a good plan to take this drive and get an idea of the 
whole length of the Park and a glimpse of its syl- 
van beauties; arrive at the chief entrance at Baird 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 8i 

Court; and then walk back through the Park, stop- 
ping at the various houses and cages on the way. 

Doodle also told them that this was noted as 
the largest and most beautiful Zoological Park in 
the world, and that on account of its woods, waters, 
hills, rocks and meadows, it had been possible to 
give the animals so much space that they live al- 
most in the state of nature to which they were 
accustomed. 

As they crossed the Bronx, at the Bronxdale En- 
trance, they were charmed with the pretty little 
waterfall. Next, they turned into Pelham Avenue; 
passed over Linnaeus Bridge spanning Lake Agas- 
siz, a pretty sheet of water occupying five acres and 
dotted with several islands; and entered the Park 
at the Concourse Entrance. Driving around the 
circle, they stopped in front of the imposing Terrace. 

" We have a big day's work before us," said 
Doodle, as they all climbed out of the carriage, 
"for we have got to make the acquaintance of more 
than eight hundred mammals, more than thirteen 
hundred reptiles, and nearly three thousand birds, — 
that is, if we try to see everything." 

"Oh! we can never see everything!" sighed 
Nora, as they walked up the steps of the Terrace 
and looked admiringly at Baird Court, with its 
stately buildings, bright flower-beds and evergreens. 

" That is the large Bird House on the right," 
said Doodle, " and we will go in. What a noise ! 
What squawks and squeaks and screams and 
shrieks from the Parrots, Macaws and Cockatoos! 
Do you notice that the most beautifully dressed 
birds have the loudest voices? That is the 
Red and Blue Alacaw ; and that is the Blue 
and Yellow Macaw; and here is the Great Green 



82 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

Macaw ; and this is the rarest of all — the magnifi- 
cent Ultramarine, or Hyacinthine, Macaw. This 
bird is seldom seen in captivity alive, and when it 
does come into the hands of a dealer, it often brings 
as much as two hundred dollars. You see it is en- 
tirely blue, except for a few touches of yellow 
around the eyes and at the base of the enormous 
black beak. The beak is so strong that this bird 
can crunch up his perch and break the wires of any 
cage in a few moments. He is, however, quite 
gentle in disposition and likes to be carried about by 
his keeper and caressed. The bird, strange to say, 
seems to enjoy showing off, and always attracts a 
crowd. 

" The handsome Black Cockatoo and the beau- 
tiful White Cockatoos, with their sulphur crests, are 
not lacking in loud voices, and neither are the Lead- 
beater Cockatoos, nor the Cuban Parrots, nor the 
Rosella Parakeets." 

From Parrots' Hall they passed into the Main 
Hall to see the foreign song birds, the tropical Doves 
and Pigeons and the strange tropical Toucans, 
giant Kingfishers and Hornbills, not forgetting the 
central Flying-Cage which contains a large array of 
swimmers, waders, and perchers, and the Glass 
Court, which was designed especially for North 
American song-birds. 

'' We had better stop and look at the touracous," 
said Doodle, " for they tell us here that ' of all the 
thousands of living birds now in the collection of 
the Zoological Society, the most beautiful, perhaps, 
are a pair of white-crested touracous. And unlike 
some ornamental creatures, they are as interesting 
as they are exquisite in colour. The plumage is a 
rich grass green with a large patch of vivid scarlet 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 83 

on each wing, and a stiffly erect crest tipped with a 
delicate brush of white. Every movement is full 
of grace, and from their slender necks to their well- 
proportioned feet they are creatures of beauty 
which it is a delight to watch. Their position in 
classification has long been a matter of dispute, but 
true to their character of two toes in front and two 
behind, they are now usually placed near the 
cuckoos, with a strong leaning in the direction of 
the parrots, although they are absolutely unlike these 
latter birds both in appearance and actions. The 
most interesting thing about them lies in the red 
colour of the larger wing feathers, this hue taking 
up a considerable portion of each side of the vane of 
the feathers. When the birds bathe, this pigment 
sometimes tinges the water to a slight rose colour, a 
remarkable fact when we realise how permanent 
and difficult of extraction the pigments of birds' 
feathers usually are. When the proper succession 
of acid and alkali are used, this red colour of the 
touracous' wing can be extracted and precipitated 
in the form of a bluish-green powder and we find 
that it is nothing more nor less than pure, metallic 
copper. 

'' ' The source of this metal in the bird's wing is 
unknown, although it has been suggested that in a 
wild state the touracou picks up pieces of copper or 
malachite with the grit which they swallow to aid 
them in grinding their food. A much more prob- 
able explanation is, that bananas, of which these 
birds are very fond, contain traces of the metal, 
and that by the accumulation of this, sufficient is 
stored up in the dermal tissues to produce the re- 
quired percentage in the wing feathers. , As if one 
such remarkable fact were not enough, abundant 



84 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

traces of iron have been found in the green portions 
of the plumage, so that these birds are metal ex- 
tractors in more than one way.' 

" You are both so fond of pigeons," continued 
Doodle, " let us see some of the rare kinds. One 
of the most beautiful birds in the Park is the Great 
Crowned Pigeon, a native of New Guinea. You 
see he is lavender in hue, with a broad band of 
brown on his back and wings, the latter of which 
are ornamented with a large patch of white; and 
his eyes are scarlet. He utters a low booming cu- 
rious sound, and is noted for his quarrelsome dispo- 
sition. 

*' Now this is another curious pigeon, — the 
Bleeding Heart Pigeon from the Philippines." 

'' Oh dear ! he has been hurt ! " exclaimed Nora, 
who had not caught the name of the bird. 

" No, he hasn't," said Doodle. '' His white 
breast has that strange bloody spot on it. Isn't it 
queer? He looks as if he had just been stabbed." 

Doodle next pointed out the Giant Kingfisher, 
or the Laughing Jackass, of Australia, and the 
Himalayan Jay Thrush, the latter a wicked bird 
that loves to murder other birds. 

'' The Himalayan Laughing Thrush, or Jay 
Thrush, is neither a jay nor a thrush. He has, as 
you see, a white throat and breast; a high crest of 
white and pearl grey ; and a jet black line extending 
backward through the eye. Every morning and 
sometimes during the day he and his mate sing a 
duet. They sit side by side — though they do not 
have any music book — and lean towards one an- 
other with their bills pointing upward. One bird 
sings something that sounds like ' bob-white, bob- 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 85 

white ' and the other makes a noise that sounds Hke 
a wild laugh." 

" Where did they get all the birds ? " asked Jack. 

" A great many have been caught by Mr. Beebe, 
who has made many expeditions and travelled about 
twenty-three thousand miles to study and to find 
birds for this Park. He has been to Nova Scotia, 
British Guiana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Florida, Vir- 
ginia and Gardiner's Island, and collected, as we 
shall see, many rare specimens. Then many rare 
birds have been bought from various dealers, and 
others given as presents; so we have a large com- 
pany of individuals from Australia, Africa, India, 
South America, the Western Plains and many other 
parts of the world. Moreover, numbers of native 
birds are caught every summer here in the Park." 

Next they visited the Lion House ; and, as Doodle 
opened the door. Jack cried in the greatest excite- 
ment: 

** Now, for the lions and tigers ! Hurrah for 
the lions and tigers ! Here they are ! " 

The superb Hannibal raised his head in disdain 
at such familiarity expressed towards the King of 
Beasts and dropped it again upon his paws, while 
the Bedouin Maid, Cleopatra, Dongola and Sandi- 
bel took a sleepy interest in their new visitors. It 
was early in the morning and the other party that 
was passing through this hall had bored them. 

The splendid tigers fascinated Jack and Nora 
quite as much as the lions, particularly as they 
were walking up and down in all their majesty 
and soft-footed grace. Doodle called their atten- 
tion, also, to Lopez, one of the finest jaguars in 
captivity, telling them that Lopez was a native 



86 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

of Paraguay and that when he was captured he 
was sent to Asuncion in a very rickety cage and 
small boat on a long journey and came near be- 
ing drowned several times. Then he was sent to 
Liverpool and for three months lived in Cross's 
wild animal establishment before he was shipped 
to New York. " I know something about Lopez 
that does not speak well for his character," added 
Doodle, and then, addressing the animal, said: 
" Lopez, I am going to tell Jack and Nora what a 
wicked beast you are ! " 

The handsome jaguar, however, showed not the 
least concern as Doodle told the following story as 
given by Mr. Hornaday : 

" * From the day of his arrival at the Park, 
Lopez had never been one of the snarling kind. 
On the contrary, he constantly manifested what 
was considered a playful disposition. Most large 
felines of savage disposition show it by snarling, and 
charging against their bars. Lopez, on the con- 
trary, seemed anxious to play with anyone who 
came near his cage, and had a trick of rolling on 
his back, with his paws in the air, quite after the 
manner of a good-natured house cat. 

" ' In Hamburg, a female jaguar, very nearly full 
grown, was purchased as a cage-mate for him. 
Lopez was the first animal placed in the first fin- 
ished cage of the new Lion House, weeks before 
the workmen had completed the other cages. In- 
asmuch as the female had been six weeks in her 
travelling cage, and sadly cramped for room, it was 
decided to place her in the Lion House without 
delay. In order to ascertain the temper of Lopez 
toward her, her cage was raised to the level of his, 
and the two were placed with their bars in close 




<u 



c 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 87 

proximity. Lopez was greatly interested by the 
stranger, and attempted to play with her through 
the bars. She observed him without any mani- 
festation of fear, and seemed to be interested by the 
prospect of a larger cage, and a companion in cap- 
tivity. 

" ' For two days the female's cage stood in the 
position described, and during all that period 
Lopez manifested not the slightest ill-temper or 
displeasure toward the new arrival. At the end 
of that time the Director held, on the spot, a con- 
sultation with the keepers, and it was agreed that 
it would be quite safe to admit the female to the 
cage of Lopez. The doors were opened, and with- 
out the slightest fear or hesitation the female jaguar 
walked into her new home. 

" * Instantly, the whole nature of Lopez changed 
— or rather, his real nature came to the surface. 
His scheming for an advantage had been success- 
fully carried out. With a savage growl, he rushed 
upon the unsuspecting female, seized her by the 
right side of the neck, and held on, biting savagely. 
From the first instant, the female seemed utterly 
powerless. With an iron scraper, and a hardwood 
pole ten feet long, Lopez was beaten over the head 
and prodded in the face; but he only shut his eyes 
and tightened his grip on the neck of his victim. 
In the midst of his punishment, he rose from the 
floor, carrying the female in his jaws as a cat 
carries her kitten, and walked to the opposite side 
of the cage. It was nearly a minute before the 
savage creature was forced to quit his hold, and 
resist the attacks made upon him by the keepers. 
When he released the female, she lay upon the floor, 
motionless, and in two minutes more was quite dead. 



88 • THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" * The injury was inflicted by a square bite, with 
nO' wrenching, and the murder was fully premedi- 
tated. As an exhibition of the terrible strength of 
the jaguar's jaws, it was quite as astonishing as it 
was unexpected and shocking. As a consequence 
of this act of treachery, Lopez will live in solitude 
the remainder of his life.' " 

The children were so distressed by this sad story 
that Doodle abruptly asked, 

" Shall we go and see the Monkeys?" 

"Oh! I love monkeys," exclaimed Jack, as they 
wended their way to the Primate House, where 
the big family of four-handed animals live. Once 
here, it was hard to get the children away. The 
Orang-Utan, the Chimpanzee, the Gibbon, the 
curious Mandrill, the Golden Baboon, the Long- 
Armed Yellow Baboon, the Hamadryas Baboon, 
with the long side whiskers and strange cape of 
hair, the Japanese Red-Faced Monkey, the Pig- 
tailed Monkey, the Rhesus Monkey, the Bonneted 
Macaque (the best monkey to keep for a pet on 
account of his amiable disposition), the Mona, the 
Green, the Red, the Vervet, the White Collared 
Mangabey, the Sooty Mangabey, and the Sacred 
Entellus of India were duly admired. 

Doodle then showed them the Monkeys of the 
New World — the Sapajous, the Black Spider 
Monkey, the Grey Spider Monkey, and the delicate 
little Marmosets, — impressing upon the children 
the strange fact that the prehensile, or grasping, 
tail, is never found on any monkey of the Old 
World ! 

The pretty little Lemurs, with their long tails, 
fine hair, bright eyes and pointed noses, also in- 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 89 

terested the children very much; but they could not 
afford to spend any more time here. 

Passing through the centre of Baird Court they 
stopped to look at the Sea Lions that were diving, 
swimming, climbing and cutting up all kinds of 
antics to the great amusement of a crowd of laugh- 
ing spectators. 

" Those Sea Lions came from Santa Barbara," 
said Doodle, " and during their long trip they had 
to be drenched with water constantly and fed on 
raw fish." 

It was hard to tear themselves away from the 
Sea Lion Pool; but soon they were walking along 
the pretty path leading north to Cope Lake. They 
now came to the hill that rises between the Fordham 
Entrance and Bird Valley where are situated a 
series of houses and enclosures occupied by the 
deer of Europe and Asia. Those who enter the 
Park from the Fordham Entrance by Osborn's 
Walk, gain a fine view of these beautiful animals. 
Here is the Axis Deer, the handsomest of all trop- 
ical deer, with the most beautiful coat probably 
possessed by any one of the tribe; then come the 
Japanese Sika; the Burmese, or Brow Antler Deer; 
the Barasinga Deer ; the Indian Sambar ; the Altai 
Wapiti ; the Malay Sambar ; the Maral Deer, the 
European Red Deer ; and the Fallow Deer — a 
beautiful family of animals and finely represented. 

" Now we have come to Cope Lake," Doodle 
remarked, '' the happy summer home of the big 
birds, a lovely piece of water. Before we look at 
the birds, however, I want to show you a wonder- 
ful nest, — perhaps the biggest nest you will ever 
see. It weighs more than four hundred pounds — 



90 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

think of it, a nest weighing four hundred pounds! 
There it is in the topmost crotch of that tall tree 
on the edge of Cope Lake." 

" What kind of a nest is it? " asked Jack, " and 
who found it? " 

" It was the nest of a fish-hawk/' replied Doodle, 
" and was found on Gardiner's Island, by Mr. 
Beebe. Mixed with the huge sticks are pieces of 
wrecked boats, broken oars, rope, nets, barbed wnre, 
shells, horseshoe, crabs and skeletons of quails; and, 
at the side of the nest, are three nests of black- 
birds, who evidently went there for protection." 

A little south of Cope Lake and at the north 
end of Bird Valley they found the Duck Aviary 
(250 feet long and 150 feet wide). 

'* Just look at the ducks, the green-winged and 
blue-winged teal, Pintail and Mandarin Ducks, the 
Red-Head and Canvas Back and all the pretty Geese 
and Swans," exclaimed Doodle. " I wish we had 
time to stay here longer and watch them at play, 
but here is something even more attractive." 

Doodle was referring to the enormous Flying 
Cage, south of and close beside the Duck Aviary, 
a tall steel structure composed of arches and wire 
netting (55 feet high, 75 feet wide and 152 feet 
long) and enclosing three tall trees, shrubbery and 
a pool of water 100 feet long. In this large pool, 
the Pelicans, Flamingoes, Herons, Penguins and 
rare tropical ducks, enjoy life and here the great 
California Condor has his summer home. Vultures 
may be seen here sometimes and also the peculiar 
Curassow. The latter is a striking bird with a 
beautiful black crest and feathers. 

" The under side of him, you see," said Doodle, 



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A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 91 

" is white and he has a curious piece of skin under 
the bill. He is a very gentle bird and is usually- 
very quiet ; but when he is excited, he has a curious 
way of raising his tail over his back and drawing 
back his head till his head touches his tail. Then 
he walks around in this position, squealing and 
grunting. He is a native of Central America and 
lives in great flocks in the forest." 

" Can't you make him do it now? " asked Nora; 
but Doodle turned the subject, drawing attention to 
the American Flamingo, once common in Florida; 
but now alas ! this beautiful bird is only to be found 
in the Bahama Islands and Cuba. 

" Its feathers are very fine," said Doodle, '' and 
of a rich scarlet, though not so bright in captivity 
as in a wild state. When flamingoes are first 
hatched, they have a suit of the softest and whitest 
down and their bills are straight. When they get 
older, the bills are very much curved. Young 
flamingoes are fed on dried shrimps, bread and 
boiled rice! 

" The European flamingo is almost white. 
Among the ibises, storks and herons we find the 
sacred Ibis of Egypt, — that beautiful scarlet bird. 
That queer thing over there is one of the rarest of 
all birds, — the Jabiru." 

"What is he?" asked Jack. 

" The Jabiru is a kind of stork and comes from 
Mexico," Doodle answered. " Mr. Beebe says 
' This is probably the most comical looking bird in 
the Park, even going ahead of the wood ibis, which 
until the Jabiru's arrival, held undisputed sway as 
the greatest idiot of the collection. An immense, 
upturned bill protrudes from a head bare of feathers, 



92 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

but with a tuft of hair-like down on top, which, 
standing upright, gives the bird a continually sur- 
prised expression. 

" ' His long neck is naked, partly black and partly 
flesh-coloured. His body feathers are a dirty white, 
although giving promise of becoming immaculate at 
some future time, and he walks, or rather totters, on 
a pair of very long legs, the management of which 
is a great perplexity to him. He is at his best — or 
worst — at meal times, when he seizes whole fish, a 
foot in length, gulps them entire, smacks his bill 
and squeals with delight. He has a way of shaking 
them down his throat by jerking his head and beak 
sideways, but it looks exactly like a person who is 
saying, *' My, that was good ! " Jabiru is playful, 
but as graceful in his play as a seal on dry land. A 
favourite mode of resting is on his entire foot, heel 
and all, and when seated on a little elevation in this 
position, one sees him silhouetted against the sun, 
with the light shining through the loose, crimson skin 
of his neck, the sight is likely to remain in the mind 
of the observer for a long time. The bird has the 
power of distending this skin, which then becomes 
a brilliant scarlet, and this gives the neck an im- 
mense diameter, and the bird a most bizarre appear- 
ance. It is from this habit that the bird gets its 
name, the Indian word Yahiru, meaning " blown out 
with wind." It inhabits South and Central America 
and even comes across the Texan border, so it is 
rightfully included among the birds of the United 
States. Very little seems to be known of its habits 
except that it nests in high trees and lays blue-green 
eggs/ 

" The Penguins are almost as funny, I think, 
as old Jabiru," added Doodle, ^' Whatever they do 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 93 

is amusing, whether they swim or dive or waddle. 
Their wings look like sharks' fins and they paddle 
about with them in a ridiculous fashion. Their 
feathers have lost all softness and resemble horny 
little scales. With their flat, fish-like eyes they 
can see distinctly under the water. 

*' See if you can find the big Condor, General. 
Oh, yes! there he is. General has been one of the 
pets of the Zoological Park ever since 1906. Gen- 
eral had just been hatched when he was found 
that year in one of the canyons of Southern Cali- 
fornia; and when he was three months old he was 
taken from the nest and shipped to Portland, Ore- 
gon. There he lived for another three months. 

'' Like the Buffalo, the splendid Condor of Cal- 
ifornia is doomed to extinction. Once he ranged 
the mountains of the Pacific from Washington to 
Mexico but was killed off and now he lives in the 
coast mountains of Southern and Lower Califor- 
nia. He is one of the largest birds of flight living 
to-day. He is about four feet long and his spread 
of wing averages nine feet. The plumage of the 
male is sooty black and his head and neck bright 
orange and yellow.'' 

'' There's Gunda ! I know him from his pict- 
ures," exclaimed Jack, as the handsome Indian Ele- 
phant appeared near the Flying Cage, lazily swing- 
ing his huge india-rubber feet as he moved along in 
the performance of his regular duty of giving chil- 
dren rides. " Do you know where Gunda came 
from, Doodle?" 

" Yes ; I do. He was caught wild in the interior 
of Assam and arrived here in 1904. He had a long 
journey didn't he? At that time Gunda was about 
seven years old, so he is now about thirteen. He is 



94 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

a very intelligent animal and knows a great many 
funny tricks. He is now going up to the Pony 
Stand, where the children get on and off his back.'* 

" Do you think he minds? " asked Nora. 

"Minds what?" 

" Riding the children on his back ? " 

" No; the keepers say he seems to like it. Gunda 
is very amiable. They tell us here that ' in numer- 
ous ways he indicates his complete satisfaction as 
to his bill of fare and the kindness of the keepers. 
He kneels at command, salutes, shakes hands, and is 
also a banker. If anyone throws a penny on the 
floor, he picks it up and drops it into the box above 
his head, after which he rings a bell with his trunk. 
Then he looks for a reward. If it is not forthcom- 
ing, in the shape of forage biscuits or peanuts, he 
rings the bell until it does come." 

Jack and Nora were enchanted with the recital 
of Gunda's accomplishments and were also charmed 
to behold him in the flesh, for they had read a great 
deal about Gunda, and to see him was one of the 
objects of their visit to the Park. 

" Do you want a ride? " asked Doodle. 

" Indeed we do," said Nora and Jack together. 

Doodle, therefore, took them to the Pony Stand 
and waited while they had their exciting ride. 

After this little diversion, the three continued their 
walk, still going south ; and south of the Flying Cage, 
and to the right of the Pony Stand, they saw the 
Aquatic Bird House, where the big birds have their 
winter home. Still going south, they passed the en- 
closure where the Red Deer were browsing and 
reached the Zebra Houses, situated in a pretty grassy 
meadow of about six acres, — a nice play ground for 
these wild horses. They saw the Persian Wild Ass ; 




3 
O 



I 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 95 

the Onager, that Hves in Western India and Belu- 
chistan; the Kiang, a native of Thibet; the strange 
Httle wild horses called the Prjevalsky Horses from' 
Western Mongolia, captured in 1900 between the 
Altai and Thian-Shan Mountains; and the Zebras, 
with wide stripes on their backs, faces and legs. 

'' This one is the rarest of all " — said Doodle, — 
'' the Grevy Zebra." 

"Gravy!" said Jack. "Why, have they spilt 
gravy over him ? " 

" I think," laughed Nora, " that it looks more as 
if somebody had upset the cream over his back 
and it had all trickled down." 

" No, children, you are wrong. He is named 
for an ex-President of France — President Grevy. 
This Zebra is very rare, and he is very expensive 
(he is valued at about $2,000) ; he is considered 
very handsome; and he is noted for being one of 
the largest, rarest, and most showy of Zebras. 
His complete suit of black and white stripes is of 
generally uniform width and his ears are large; 
and you see his stripes extend all the way to his 
hoofs; and if you can find a tailor, that can cut and 
fit a better suit than his, I shall be glad to have his 
address." 

" He keeps his stockings up nicely, too, without 
any garters," said Nora, " w^here does he come 
from. Doodle ? " 

" From Southern Abyssinia and Somaliland ; 
and probably no more than fifteen are in captivity 
outside of Africa." 

Taking the Service Road south of the Zebra 
Houses and walking west, they soon came to one 
of the handsomest houses in the Park — the Ele- 
phant House. It is beautifully carved with 



96 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

elephants' heads and other sculptures, and provided 
with roomy cages, each of which opens into a yard, 
or corral. 

" This little elephant, with the small round ears 
and five toes on each forefoot is Congo," Doodle 
explained. " Congo comes from West Africa and 
is very different from Gunda. The shape of their 
heads is unlike and Congo's tusks take a downward 
curve. When Congo was caught in 1905 and ar- 
rived from Hamburg he was supposed to be three 
years old, — so he is just about your age, Nora." 

At this piece of information Nora surveyed her 
contemporary with fresh interest. 

" Very different from either Gunda and Congo , 
are the two big Soudan African elephants from the 
Blue Nile country," Doodle continued. " They 
came also by way of Hamburg, and were three 
months in travelling. They are now about five or 
six years old. They cost $2,500 each, though they 
are now worth double that sum, at least. When 
Kartoom, the male, reaches his growth, he will 
probably have a shoulder height of eleven feet and 
will weigh 12,000 pounds. Sultana will not be 
quite so large, though her ears are just as large for 
her size, as are those of her royal consort." . 

" Do you know," asked Doodle after a pause, 
" that the elephant's trunk is almost as wonderful 
as the hand of man? It is! The elephant can 
do almost anything he pleases with it. He can pick 
up a man and dash him against a wall or gather 
up a tiny thing like a nut from the ground. The 
trunk is of enormous strength and extraordinary 
delicacy. It contains about thirty thousand mus- 
cles; and, therefore, Mr. Elephant can shorten it, 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 97 

lengthen it, or curve or bend it any way he pleases. 
The little appendage at the end is called ' the 
finger.' The elephant does everything with his 
trunk except put clothes into it. It is his drink- 
ing-cup ; the hose with which he sprinkles his body ; 
the powder-puff with which he sprinkles dust over 
his moistened hide to protect it from flies; the 
knife and fork with which he breaks off a leafy 
branch or cuts a blade of grass; and he has even 
been known to use it as a kind of tooth-brush 
when he wants to rub his mouth with mud. It is 
also his strong arm. A wonderful thing, indeed, 
is the trunk of an elephant." 

In the same house they saw the splendid young 
Two-Horned African Rhinoceros : Victoria, cap- 
tured in German East Africa, near the head of 
Speke Gulf on Lake Victoria Nyanza, in July, 1905. 
Speke, her mate, captured in nearly the same spot, in 
April, 1907, died some time ago. 

'' How would you like to be slung under a pole 
and carried six days' journey to the Lake and then 
transported by steamer to the Uganda Railway 
and then five hundred miles to Mombasa and then 
all the way to New York?" Doodle inquired. 
" Well, these two animals had to take that long 
and most uncomfortable journey." 

'' Did this one come from Africa, too. Doodle," 
asked Jack, as they walked to the next cage. 

'' No; Mogul is an Indian Rhinoceros, a very 
rare animal, chiefly found in the swampy plains 
of Assam. Mogul arrived here in 1906. Poor 
old thing, he is blind! This Hippopotamus," con- 
tinued Doodle, turning to the animal in question, 
" has never seen a jungle. He is a native American 



98 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

and was born in Central Park in July, 1904. And 
what do you think the donor paid for him? Three 
thousand dollars ! " 

*' That's a great deal of money," said Jack. 
" I'd rather have an automobile than such an old 
fright as that." 

*' I don't think he's worth all that money, either," 
Nora agreed. *^ There are a great many things I'd 
far rather have than that old Hippopotamus." 

" Here is another foreigner," said Doodle, call- 
ing attention to the Malay Tapir. " He had an 
awful experience, poor thing. He was on a ship, 
called the Mancaster Castle; and when it was com- 
ing through the Red Sea, a fire broke out in her 
hold under the tapir's cage and the poor animal 
was nearly burned to death; but the fire was for- 
tunately put out. 

'* The Malay Tapir is, as you see, half brown 
and half white, and the peculiar shape of the white 
patch gives it the name of Saddle-Back Tapir. 

'' The other one with the long prehensile nose, 
like an elephant's trunk, is a South American 
Tapir." 

Walking back from the Elephant House to Baird 
Court, they took a path leading in a south-easterly 
direction from the Primate House. 

" This path will take us," said Doodle, " to one 
of the most attractive spots in the whole Park, — 
Beaver Pond. It is a pretty little secluded place 
that will make you fancy you are in some far-away 
forest. 

" Beavers are very shy and I doubt if we see 
one of them. We certainly shall not surprise them 
at work, for they are busy only at night. They cut 
down trees and build dams of mud and water- 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 99 

soaked leaves and are just as busy as it is possible 
for any creatures to be. The best time to see them 
is after six o'clock. The dam, about forty feet 
long and four feet high, was built entirely by these 
little beavers who cut down the trees and built 
their house also. The entrance to the Beaver's 
house is always under the water. 

" Well, that's enough for the Beavers," said 
Doodle, '* and I think we had better wander along 
to the Rocking-Stone Restaurant and have lunch 
and a rest; after that we will explore the lower 
half of the Park." 

It was quite a little distance from Beaver Pond 
to their destination; but the way seemed short. 
Although the path led directly south to the Bear 
Dens, they could not stop to look at the Bears for 
it was past one o'clock and so they continued their 
way, still walking south to the Rocking-Stone 
Restaurant, which with its flowers and attractive 
dining-room, offered a cool and restful retreat after 
their long walk. 



CHAPTER V 

A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 

PART II 

IN WHICH DOODLE, JACK AND NORA AFTER LUNCH- 
ING AT THE ROCKING-STONE RESTAURANT,, VISIT 
THE REPTILES, SMALL MAMMALS, MORE BIRDS 
AND BEASTS, AND SEE ALL THE LATEST STYLES IN 
ZOOLOGICAL FASHIONS. 

The Rocking-Stone Restaurant takes its name 
from the big granite boulder in the vicinity, which 
can be made to swing about two inches if a sHght 
pressure is exerted at one angle of the stone. 
There were too many other attractions for the chil- 
dren to take much interest in this, however; and, 
besides, they were rather hungry. Doodle also 
had an appetite ; and, for a time, the broiled chicken, 
fried potatoes and other things that were invitingly 
served absorbed all their attention. 

" There goes the photographer ! " exclaimed 
Doodle, who had been looking out of the window 
enjoying the beautiful scenery in silence while Jack 
and Nora were finishing their strawberries and 
cream, '' he is going to take some pictures — the 
bears probably. Many persons think it is a simple 
matter to photograph a wild animal, and that all 
they have to do is to take a snap-shot from the 

lOO 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK lOl 

walks or between the bars. Then they are sur- 
prised if the picture does not turn out to be lifeHke. 
The fact is the animal really has to be made to 
pose. The photographer must enter the cage with 
his camera, and he must be accompanied by the 
keeper with his club, for sometimes the subject is 
frightened, or enraged, and makes a dash for the 
photographer and his camera. It is a very dan- 
gerous piece of work. Well, shall we go along? " 

The children were quite ready and so they started 
off again, this time walking west of the Restaurant 
and coming to the ridge known as the Mountain 
Sheep Hill. The Zoological Park has always made 
a special feature of its wild sheep and goats, and, 
therefore, Doodle pointed out some of the attrac- 
tions, such as the Musk Ox, that stands between the 
cattle and sheep and lives in this hemisphere in 
Northern Canada from Great Bear Lake to Hudson 
Bay and on the northern coast of Greenland. After 
admiring Lady Melville, presented to the Park by a 
Canadian explorer in November, 1909, they turned 
their attention to the Sardinian Mouflon. 

" He is very proud of those huge curving horns 
of his," said Doodle, " and he is very friendly and 
very, very vain. I have my suspicions that his 
friendliness is a trick to win admiration. He is al- 
ways posing, at least the keepers say so. 

" Here is another ' big horn ' sheep — that is to 
say with the large circling horns — the Arcal Moun- 
tain Sheep. He lives in Northern India, Southern 
Persia, Afghanistan, Beluchistan and Thibet; and 
here is one of the wild goats, called Tahr, from 
the Himalayas of Northern India. He is extraor- 
dinary on account of his long hair; and what a pe- 
culiar colour it is — a purplish brown ! The Tahr 



102 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

is very sure-footed and dwells among the crags and 
precipices of high mountains. The Zoological 
Park has nine of him. The Persian Ibex is inter- 
esting, too. See, there he is nibbling the grass over 
there in the distance ! " 

They now came to some steps leading down from 
the Rocking-Stone to the Raccoon Tree, — a cedar- 
tree enclosed by a fence, near which a pool of water 
and a rustic house, containing ten warm compart- 
ments, afford our old friend Brer Coon all the 
comforts of home. 

" Is he old Brer Coon that Uncle Remus tells 
about ? " asked Jack. 

'' Tobysholy honey," answered Doodle, " he is 
de ve'y same old Brer Coon, who knew Brer Rab- 
bit and all de yuther creeturs." 

" I don't see him," said Jack, peering about ex- 
citedly. 

" You are looking on the ground," answered 
Doodle. " I see three little, round, furry balls in 
the crotches of the tree." 

" Oh yes, now I see three 'coons," said Jack. 

The attention of the children was soon diverted, 
however, because Jack caught a glimpse of the long 
row of Bear Dens. 

" Oh ! there are the Bears ! " he exclaimed and 
ran off to make their acquaintance. 

" What more could a bear desire than he has 
here?" asked Doodle. ''Look! he has rocks and 
trees for climbing, and caves where he can retire 
from the maddening crowd, — caves where he can 
hibernate in winter, just as he does in his native 
forests." 

Doodle then showed the children the five species 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 103 

of Alaska Brown Bears — calling special attention 
to the Peninsula one, the second largest bear in 
captivity, and then to the Grizzlies. 

" The Grizzly Bear," explained Doodle, " is the 
most savage and dangerous of all bears, and he is 
rapidly disappearing from the United States. This 
one is named Engineer." 

Next they looked at the Black Bears, the Cinna- 
mon Bears, some Brown Bears from Europe and 
also the pale Yellow Syrian Bears with their high 
shoulders and narrow head. " These," said Doo- 
dle, calling attention to the latter, " are the bears 
described in the Bible that devoured the children 
who spoke so disrespectfully to the Prophet Elisha ; " 
and then noticing the look of alarm that Jack and 
Nora bestowed upon these animals added quickly: 
" Oh, no ! I don't mean those special bears. I am 
referring to their ancestors. I do not believe these 
Bears have the slightest desire to make a meal of 
us. Oh, do look at those tw^o Black Bears stand- 
ing together against their cage with their paws 
through the bars and grinning! They w-ant to at- 
tract our attention. Bears are awfully funny at 
play. When the collection was first started and the 
first bears arrived, they seemed satisfied with their 
new home and were in the best of humour. Mr. 
Hornaday tells us that * When the grizzly and black 
bear cubs from Alaska, Colorado and the Adiron- 
dacks w^ere liberated in their dens they galloped 
around the floor a few times then fell to chasing 
and wrestling with one another like Western school 
boys. They raced mad scrambles up the rocks, up 
the slanting tree trunks and down again, round and 
into the pools.' 



104 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Not so, however, with Silver King, the gigan- 
tic polar bear (there he is !), eight or nine feet long, 
caught last spring in the Arctic regions (latitude 
75°) by Paul Rainey and Harry Whitney. They 
lassoed him, while he was asleep on an ice-floe, and 
took him on board the steam-sealer Boethic. 

" When the Boethic arrived at City Island, twenty 
men worked ten hours before they could get him off 
the boat and into his den in the Zoological Park. 
He fought so desperately that they had to chloroform 
him and it took four pounds of chloroform to make 
him quiet! When he arrived, the other two polar 
bears, Greeley and Aurora Borealis, greeted him with 
growls. Arctic Queen, the other polar bear that was 
captured at the same time, gave no trouble. This 
expedition also brought back some musk oxen, a blue 
fox, some Eskimo dogs and a baby walrus, named 
Flip. Flip is valued at $i,ooo; for walruses in cap- 
tivity are rare. On the way home. Flip was fed on 
cooked oatmeal; but now Flip gets three pints of 
soft clams a day. The polar bears have for a treat 
cod-liver oil, which they love." 

" Look, Doodle," said Jack, pointing to a label 
on one of the cages : " The Bears are fed at 4 
P. M. Can't we come and see them? We missed 
the Lions' dinner, — you know they are fed at two 
o'clock! Do let us see what the Bears have to 
eat." 

" No, Jack, we have too many things to see. I'm 
afraid we can't come back, and so we shall have to 
miss the Bear's Afternoon Tea." 

Taking the Service Road at this point and walk- 
ing a short distance west, they soon reached the 
Reptile House and Tortoise Yards. 

The children were somewhat surprised when 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 105 

they entered the Reptile House to see the great 
number of tanks and cages. The first thing that 
attracted their attention was the AlHgator Pool, 
where the sluggish creatures were lying among the 
palms, resurrection ferns, Spanish moss and other 
greenery that were reminiscent of their Florida 
home. Both Nora and Jack had little to say — 
and few questions to ask, as they looked upon one 
exhibit after another, while Doodle told them the 
following facts. 

'* Serpents, or snakes, are very weird. Most 
people hate them. However, if we can bring our- 
selves to look upon them without aversion, reptiles 
are of great interest. A snake seems to be all tail, 
— doesn't it? Well; it has ribs and scales. Ribs! 
I should think so ! Some serpents, indeed, have no 
less than three hundred pairs of ribs! The snake 
moves by means of these ribs and scales, which 
take hold of the surface on which it passes. It 
glides rapidly over the ground, sw^ims, and even 
climbs trees. Over a perfectly smooth surface, like 
glass, for example, the serpent is helpless and can- 
not move at all. Some snakes, particularly those 
that live in trees, hold their place by means of the 
scales near the tail and swing the upper part of the 
body in the air. Now here is another strange 
thing — true serpents live on prey larger than 
themselves which they swallow whole. The Boa, 
for instance, crushes its victims by constriction — 
that is to say — a kind of tight hugging. The 
mouth and the body of constrictors dilate tremen- 
dously; but sometimes serpents seize prey too big 
for them to swallow and die in the attempt. Their 
teeth are peculiarly formed and slant backward 
so it is hard to get rid of anything that is once in 



io6 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

the mouth. In vipers, rattlesnakes and other ven- 
omous serpents, there are no teeth on the upper 
jaw, their place being taken by venomous poison 
fangs — two long fangs firmly fixed in a movable 
bone. When not in use, these fangs lie flat on the 
roof of the mouth, and when the snake is angry 
and about to attack its enemy or prey, the fangs 
dart out from the jaw like a couple of lancets. 
Each fang is practically a little tube of poison. 
The venom of the serpent differs in different 
species. The bite of some serpents causes the 
death of a human being in a few minutes; that of 
others, in a few hours or days. 

" The tongue of the serpent is forked and is 
often called the * sting'; but is not a sting at all. 
The fangs take the place of a sting. 

" The heart is placed far back in the body ; the 
ear has no external opening; the non-venomous ser- 
pents lay and hatch eggs; and the only sound all 
snakes make is that of hissing. Some of them 
are very beautifully marked in patterns that look 
like rugs and carpets and basket-work, and some 
of them have scales of lovely colours — red, green, 
purple, blue, brown, white — in fact, all the hues 
of a kaleidoscope. When the snake is in perfect 
health, these scales shine and glisten with irides- 
cent hues and a fine metallic lustre. Nora, that is 
a little snake-skin purse that you have in your 
hand, with all those pretty markings." 

Upon this, Nora looked at her purse and then 
comparing it with the snakes, seemed satisfied that 
this was true. 

" The Reptile House," continued Doodle, " con- 
tains one of the best collections of serpents in the 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 107 

world ; and these specimens, gathered from all quar- 
ters of the globe, are exhibited in such a way as to 
show each off to advantage. The Water Snakes 
have tanks ; the Sand-Vipers, fine sand, like that of 
their native desert; the Whip-Snakes, bushes where 
they can show off their balancing tricks; and the 
Tree Boas, boughs in which they can coil themselves 
at pleasure. 

" Everybody likes to see the great constricting 
Pythons, Boas and other venomous serpents, so let 
us first take a look at this enormous Regal Python, 
that came from Borneo several years ago. It is 
twenty-two feet long, and weighs nearly one hun- 
dred and seventy pounds! It is not a venomous 
serpent; but its crushing, or constricting, power is 
frightful to think about. The Regal Python is 
supposed to be the largest species of serpent living; 
and it is a very vicious snake. This special Python 
is fed once every ten days; and then it swallows 
down at one big gulp an eight-pound chicken, feath- 
ers and all ! Sometimes when it is very hungry 
the Python will gobble down two or even four 
chickens! Then it goes to sleep and digests this 
fine meal. After ten days, it wants its next din- 
ner. If it can't have chicken, it will be satisfied 
with young rabbits, or pigs. 

" The African Rock Python, has a body of a 
delicate tan-colour, decorated w^ith patches of olive 
brown on its back and a broad pinkish band on each 
side of its head. This snake is docile; and is a 
favourite of the snake-charmer. 

" Among the recent arrivals at the Reptile House 
are a young Regal Python, also from Borneo; two 
Congo Pythons; a Madagascar Boa; and a Mada- 



io8 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

gascar Tree Boa; the latter is very much like the 
South American Boas. Suppose we look at some 
of these now. 

" The largest of all the Boas of the New World 
is the Anaconda, from South America, a very 
vicious snake that hates to be handled. The speci- 
mens here spend most of their time in the water, 
swimming slowly about in the tank, or lurking in 
the corner with their noses above the water. The 
Anaconda is very handsome in colour — rich green 
with black spots. 

" The Common Boa, known as the Boa Con- 
strictor, is a native of South America and the West 
Indies. This averages from eight to nine or ten 
feet and is quite docile. This special Boa is a 
great favourite of snake-charmers because of its 
gentleness. 

" Next let me show you the West Indian Boa ; 
and the Mexican Boa, the latter noted for his bad 
temper and rich colours. 

" The Tree Boa is very peculiar. Its neck is long 
and slender, its head large and broad and very 
pointed at the snout; and, when it wraps its body 
around the limb of a tree and loops its neck in the 
air ready to strike, it is quite a terrible object. 

" There are some other Boas from Central Amer- 
ica, Cuba, and Mexico ; more Green Tree Boas ; and 
the small Rubber Boa, a burrowing snake that lives 
in our Pacific Coast States as far north as Oregon. 
It is, as you see, very round, a pale grey and is 
about eighteen inches long. 

" This is another burrowing snake — the Sand- 
Boa from Egypt — sometimes known as the Two- 
Headed Snake, because the natives paint a mouth 
and two eyes on its tail and exhibit it as a snake 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 109 

with two heads ! This snake is dull in hue, like the 
sands of the desert. It feeds on small mammals. 

'* Perhaps, however, the most famous snakes of 
all are the King Cobra and the Cobra-de-Capello. 
There are two specimens of the King Cobra, one of 
which has been here for nine years and is as bad 
tempered as he was when he first came. He is 
always ready to strike his keeper. He is so calm 
and bold and quiet and treacherous that he is con- 
sidered the most dangerous of all the deadly ser- 
pents. The two King Cobras are fed every Sun- 
day morning and each eats a freshly killed snake. 
A regular cannibal snake ! 

" Yes ; but that is not all. He inclines rather 
to made dishes, for the keepers often stuff the 
newly-killed snake with frogs or small rats to make 
the meal more substantial. Snake farci is quite a 
new wrinkle in cookery — isn't it? 

" There are some specimens of Masked Cobras 
from Borneo, Sumatra and Java, and of the Spec- 
tacled Cobra that shows on the * hood/ when this 
is spread, markings of a pair of spectacles. This 
is the Cobra that kills so many people in India. It 
is said that twenty thousand lives are lost in India 
every year from the bites of the Cobra-de-Capello! 
Several of these snakes have lived here for nine 
years; and, like the King Cobra, are frightfully 
vicious — perhaps they are the most vicious of all 
the snakes in the Park. 

" The African serpents are very deadly and very 
gorgeous. The Gaboon Viper, the Rhinoceros 
Viper and the Puff Adder have terrible fangs and 
ugly bodies, but their scales are beautifully marked. 
The Cape Viper, the Pigmy Viper and the Sand 
Viper are interesting creatures of the desert. The 



no THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

latter is red; and, instead of crawling, moves in a 
series of loops. It generally lies buried in the sand, 
only showing the tip of its snout, and its gleaming 
red eyes. 

" Shall we look at some of the Australian snakes ? 

" The Purple Death Adder, with scarlet scales ; 
six specimens of the Grey Death Adder (each about 
five feet long) ; two Tiger Snakes, with bands 
around their yellowish bodies, — all very danger- 
ous, poisonous snakes ; two Australian Pythons — 
the Diamond Snake and the Carpet Snake — with 
very splendid markings, are among the best ex- 
amples from that far away country. 

" The Rattlesnakes are all American. Their fine 
Latin name is Cro talus. They are dreaded for 
their deadly venom. The rattle at the end of the 
tail consists of a series of thin horny cells joined 
together, that strike against each other when the 
tail is shaken. It is believed that one rattle is 
added every year. The Rattlesnake generally rests 
in a coil with his rattle erected, and when molested, 
or fancies itself so, it shakes its rattle. People 
have been known to die in a few minutes after they 
have been bitten. Here we may see the Horned 
Rattlesnake, the Red Rattlesnake of Southern 
California, the Diamond Back, the Texas Rattle- 
snake, the Timber or Banded Rattlesnake, and the 
Canebrake Rattlesnake, that lives in the swamps 
and cane districts of the South. The Diamond 
Back is the handsomest of the family. The South 
American Rattlesnake is also in this collection. 

" We must not omit to look at the Rat-Snakes 
and Water-Snakes, including the Brown Water 
Snake and the Cotton Mouth. Two of the oldest 
serpents in the Reptile House are a pair of Cotton 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK in 

Mouth Moccasins, known to be over fourteen years 
old. 

" Nobody ever had a good word for the Water 
Moccasin, a vicious and ugly creature, with a dull, 
badly shaped body. The Water Moccasin, how- 
ever, is closely related to the handsomely marked 
Copperhead and both are cousins of the famous 
Fer-de-Lance, a native of the West Indies and trop- 
ical South America. The Fer-de-Lance is greatly 
dreaded by the natives and travellers. It is the 
largest of the tropical vipers; and, like most poison- 
ous snakes, is very brilliant in colour. Its fangs 
are enormous and almost always fatal in their work. 

" Another South American is the deadly Bush- 
master, one of the largest and most poisonous 
snakes known. Its fangs are enormous. One of 
the specimens here was sent from Trinidad for 
the purpose of extracting venom for scientific 
use. It is a very queer operation and simple, 
so they say. They tie a piece of cheese-cloth over 
the top of a glass tumbler, catch the snake and 
grasp it behind its neck so that it cannot move its 
head. Then they place the jaws on the cheese- 
cloth. The snake, being furious, bites the cheese- 
cloth and the fangs are soon through. At this 
moment the operator pinches the poison glands and 
all the pale yellow venom is emptied into the tum- 
bler, where it dries rapidly." 

Having enough of the snakes, now, they wan- 
dered into the Lizard and Tortoise Yards. 

" First, we will look at the Giant Tortoises that 
come from the Galapagos Islands off the coast of 
Equador," said Doodle. *' These two specimens, 
the older of them 400 years old, it is said, represent 
the largest and the smallest species. One weighs 



112 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

220 pounds and the other 90 ; and living in brotherly 
love with these are two Elephant Tortoises ! " 

*' That seems to me a very good name for them," 
said Nora, *' and their feet certainly do resemble 
Gunda's." 

'' Oh, Doodle," said Jack, laughing, " I believe he 
is the kind of turtle that the Mr. Lear's Yonghy- 
Bonghy Bo rode on." 

" Why, to be sure he is," acquiesced Doodle. 
" Well, the Elephant Turtles do come from the 

* Coast of Coromandel 
Where the early pumpkins blow/ 

" Their home is in the Aldabra Islands in the 
Indian Ocean. This may be the very turtle that 
Mr. Lear drew," and Doodle quoted: 

^ Through tht silent-roaring ocean 
Did the Turtle swiftly go; 
Holding fast upon his shell 
Rode the Yonghy-Bonghy Bo. 
With a sad primceval motion 
Towards the sunset isles of Boshen 
Still the Turtle bore him well.' 

" He certainly has a sad primaeval motion, and 
a sad primaeval face." 

" All the reptiles are primaeval," Doodle con- 
tinued, " the lizards are only miniatures of the giant 
monsters you have so often seen pictures of in my 
books that stalked about on their hind legs before 
the Flood." 

" Oh, I know," said Jack, " the — the — the — 
something sauruses." 

" Yes; and they tell us here in the Park that when 
the lizards were placed under natural conditions in 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 113 

the sandy yard they walked and ran on their hind 
legs, something after the kangaroo style, and in 
exactly the way the prehistoric monsters did. 

*' Look at the monster Lizard from Ceylon, over 
seven feet long with claws as big as a leopard's. 
This is the great Kabara-Goya, or Giant Lizard, 
also called the Monitor, and one of the largest of 
its kind ever exhibited. It is strong enough to 
kill a young gazelle and swallow it whole! The 
Monitor is very fond of eggs and likes to eat a 
dozen at a time and swallow them so quickly that 
you can hear them click one against the other. 

" There are a great number of lizards here from 
the West Indies and Central and South America, 
including the West Indian Rhinoceros Iguana, the 
Black Iguana, and the Turk's Island Iguana, 
the Spine Tailed and the Banded Iguanas and 
the Black Tegus, spotted and striped with yel- 
low; and there are Ocellated Lizards, bright 
green with spots of red and blue, from Southern 
Europe; a big Japanese Salamander; and many 
lizards from Mexico, Southern California, New 
Mexico and Arizona, including the Fringe-Toed 
Lizard with fringes on his feet that prevent 
his sinking into the sands of the desert ; and Horned 
Lizards and Spine-Tailed Lizards and Geckos and 
Skinks from Africa." 

" What are Geckos and Skinks ? " asked Jack. 

" The Gecko is a peculiar little lizard widely dis- 
tributed over the world, dull of colour and ugly in 
form. He takes his name from the peculiar cry 
some members of the family utter. His accom- 
plishment is to cling to the flat surface of anything 
by means of the suckers on his toes. The Skink's 
talents are his ability to walk on the desert sand 



114 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

without sinking and to burrow beneath it with his 
peculiar snout." 

"Oh! what is that?" exclaimed Jack, as they* 
were walking westward from the Reptile House, 
and caught sight of a curiously carved and gaudily 
painted pole, standing at the side of a curiously 
painted, low-roofed house that seemed to stare and 
grin at them with its grotesque eyes and mouth. 
''Oh, what is that?" 

" That is an Indian house with a Totem-Pole, 
from Alaska. The pole is forty-seven feet high; 
and, as you see, is carved with bears. It tapers 
gradually to the top where it is surmounted by the 
carved figure of a thunder-bird, probably intended 
for a sea-gull. The house is, as you see, carved 
with two gigantic figures of bears, with terrible 
teeth and claws, and it is painted red, green, white 
and black, like the pole. The Totem-Pole stands 
beside the house — and represents the sign, the 
crest or what corresponds to the name of the person 
who dwells there. It is a real Alaskan Indian 
house and a real Totem-Pole and was found in 
Alaska in 1899 by the Harriman Alaska Expedition, 
at Cape Fox where an abandoned Tlinkit Indian , 
village was discovered. Mr. Harriman brought 
away the chief's house and what we might call his 
front door plate — the Totem-Pole. This splendid 
example of Indian carving is valued at $2,500 at 
least. 

" Look ! there are the Wild Turkeys ! 

" Some people consider the Wild Turkey the 
finest game bird in the world. He is chiefly found 
in the Southern States. Aren't his feathers a 
beautiful bronze as the light strikes them?" 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 115 

Walking south from this point they soon reached 
the Small Mammal House. 

" What shall we look at? " asked Doodle, as they 
entered. " There are 176 cages : there are members 
of the cat family, young leopards, lynxes and their 
relatives, squirrels, baby bears, viverrines, little 
bears, foxes, many kinds of squirrels, tropical wild 
swine, ant-eaters, armadillos and marsupials all 
living under one roof! Now can you imagine the 
enormous amount of food that has to come into 
this building every day and the varied diet of all 
these animals! The greatest care has been taken 
of this strange assortment of creatures. 

" Among the peculiar little cats is a very fine 
specimen of the Yaguarundi Cat, which lives in 
Texas, Central Ameria and Mexico. Seen from a 
distance, he might be taken for an otter or a marten. 
Yes, that's a regular trick of his — running or 
galloping about the cage with his back arched up. 

** They tell us here that the ' feeding of the small 
cat animals is more difficult than that of their 
larger relations, in the Lion House. If raw beef or 
horse meat were fed as constantly to the small 
species as to the lions, tigers, leopards and other 
inmates of the Lion House, an epidemic of fits 
would soon develop. The small cats do best on 
* dipped ' meat — meat that has been quickly 
steamed, or placed in boiling water, for a few min- 
utes. And this diet must be frequently varied with 
fowls, rabbits, and rats. From the latter, freshly 
killed, the cats obtain bone-food nourishment. It 
is also important that they consume a certain amount 
of feathers or fur, as these substances produce a 
beneficial effect' 



Ii6 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Among the Viverrines we find the Common 
Civet Cat and the Malayan Civet Cat. You can 
always recognise them by their ring-streaked tails 
and spotted bodies. Here is a queer black thing, 
also from the Malay Peninsula — the Binturong, 
or Bear Cat; and this creature, something like a 
Puma is the White Whiskered Paradoxure. It 
came from northern China and is as cross as he was 
when he arrived several years ago. 

" These queer animals from South America are 
the Patagonian Fox, the Kinkajou, the Crab-eating 
Raccoon, and the Azara Dog." 

" I'd call that a kind of grey-fox," interrupted 
Jack, looking at the latter. 

" Yes ; he does look like a fox ; but his tail is very 
doggy, — don't you think so? " asked Doodle. 

" I think he doesn't like us to talk about him," 
said Nora, who had been staring at the Azara Dog 
rather cautiously. " I think we had better go." 

** Very well," Doodle acquiesced. " Suppose we 
introduce ourselves to the Malayan Sun Bear, who 
lives in Borneo, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and 
Farther India. This is the ugliest, the smallest 
and the worst-tempered bear in the whole world, 
and when he gets very angry, he barks like a dog." 

" I don't like the look of him at all," said Nora, 
holding Doodle's hand a little tighter. 

** Well then, how about this queer Capybara ? 
He won't hurt you. He has a nice affectionate 
disposition." 

" He is a queer thing," said Jack, " tell us about 
him, please." 

" Well, you can see for yourselves that he is as 
large as a half-grown hog; that he wears a coat of 
bristles; that he has no tail, and if you look again 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 117 

at his coat you will see that the bristles grow in 
* blocks of five,' as they say. They tell us here that 
this strange creature is fond of being petted and 
that it is the largest of all living rodents, weighing 
twice as much as a beaver. It has habits much like 
a hog." 

" Fm sure I don't know who would want to pet 
him" said Nora. "/ wouldn't." 

" Where does it live when it is at home. Doodle ? " 
asked Jack, intently watching the big one rubbing 
its mate's nose affectionately with its own snout. 

" On the banks of the South American rivers 
near the coasts. People hunt it rather cruelly. 
The Capybara hunter goes out in a canoe and puts 
two or three dogs on the shore to drive the animals 
into the water. The Capybara dives well and 
swims for a long time under water. The hunter 
is after it the minute it comes up to breathe, but 
the Capybara is after a time too exhausted to dive 
any more. Then it is speared. 

*' One of the Capybara's relatives is the Agouti. 
The Agouti belongs to the group of rodents, or 
gnawers, known as the Cavies. All of them are 
good-natured even to the Capybara, who has teeth 
strong enough to bite off a man's finger if he wanted 
to. The Agouti is allowed to run over this house; 
and he obeys the call of the keepers and allows 
them to pick him up and put him back in his cage. 

" Near him is the Malabar Squirrel. When 
turned loose he always has a great play with the 
keepers who try to get it back into the cage; but 
when the step-ladder is brought the little creature 
makes a dash for the cage door, thinking the game 
is ended." 

" I wish I had him for a pet," said Nora, for the 



ii8 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

Malagar Squirrel was looking at her own brown 
squirrel-like eyes with a friendly stare. ^' I think 
he is a darling! " 

" Yes ; the Malabar is the largest and finest of 
all the squirrels: he is a charming little animal. 
Pretty colours — chestnut brown and yellow and 
reddish tints — and what a tail! Yes, youVe a 
lovely tail, Mr. Malabar ; but here is a squirrel with 
a brighter coat than yours — the Prevost — bright 
cinnamon and black. The whole family is a pretty 
one ! How do you like the Kangaroos, Jack ? " 

" I could look at them all day," said Jack, doub- 
ling up with laughter as he watched their hops and 
strange postures. 

" This little Murine Opossum is a queer thing 
too," said Doodle. ** He travels in a strange fash- 
ion, — as a stowaway in a bunch of bananas! 

" The white-nosed Coati-Mundi is a relative of 
our raccoon and comes from Mexico, Central and 
South America. I think he is never still : he is so 
lively and such a good clinjber. Oh, come here! 
How about the African Porcupine? He is angry 
about something, because all those black and white 
quills are bristling, and look at his crest ! 

" Now then for the wonderful armadillos, ant- 
eaters and sloths! What do you think of these odd 
creatures that haven't any teeth! First, here is the 
Great Ant-eater, or Ant-bear. 

" When this ant-eater arrived it was in a bad 
condition, too frightened or shocked by its capture, 
journey and change of habits to eat. So they gave 
him a warm bath and a beaten-up raw tgg, a little 
of which it ate and then it went off in a corner 
of its cage. One day they took it out and put it 
among some trees near the Primates' House, where 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK I19 

there was quite a colony of black ants. The Ant- 
eater was wildly excited, dug his long claws into 
the ant-hills and pressed his snout into the ground 
and had a fine feast. So now every day his cage 
is placed outside so that he can hunt for his ant- 
dinner; but for breakfast and supper he is given 
a nice mixture of eggs and scraped meat beaten- 
up with milk. 

"This ant-eater is called the Tamandua; and 
differs from the others of his family by having a 
round, hairless and prehensile tail. Look at his 
long front claws! The Tamandua eats eggs, milk 
and scraped meat. What do you think of these 
armadillos? You see they are encased in mail — 
plates of armour, a kind of hard, bony covering, 
divided on the back into a greater, or lesser, num- 
ber of hinges, or bands. Some of them are, there- 
fore, called Six Banded, and others Three Banded, 
or Nine Banded. These hinges are so flexible that 
the strange little creature can roll itself into a ball 
in time of danger, completely protecting the soft 
parts of his body. Armadillos are always hun- 
gry — they eat boiled meat, vegetables and the 
favourite food of all the captive Edentates, — milk 
and eggs mixed with chopped meat. 

" As we go outside we can just glance at the 
pumas and lynxes, made so comfortable and 
happy in their out-of-door quarters; and now we 
have come to the Ostrich House." 

" The Ostrich House is just like the Small Mam- 
mal House," said Jack, as they entered this build- 
ing. 

" Yes, it is," said Doodle, " and here we should 
find the big running birds — the Ostriches, the 
Rheas; the Emus and the Cassowaries; but the 



I20 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

empty cages tell us that they are enjoying them- 
selves in the outside yards. Oh, wait a moment! 
here is the Bateleur Eagle of Africa. He lives here, 
I believe, both winter and summer. He is decid- 
edly worth looking at. He is remarkable for his 
magnificent bearing, his brilliant feathers and his 
very short tail. Look at his very handsome top 
knot, or crest. Though his colours are quiet, still 
they are handsome and lustrous — -chestnut and 
black and white ; his beak is orange and black ; and 
his feet and legs bright coral red." 

" Where does he live ? " asked Nora. 

" Oh, he is an African bird. He was given his 
name by the French, the word bateleur meaning 
the same as clown, or mountebank. This bird is 
a sort of clown eagle. He has a crazy way of 
turning somersaults in mid-air. Sometimes he 
does another queer trick while flying — swinging 
from side to side with his wings rigid and held 
slantingly upward. He eats reptiles and small 
mammals and carrion like the vultures. 

" Our Zoological Park is very rich in large run- 
ning birds," continued Doodle. " By the way did 
either of you ever see an ostrich? " 

" No," said Nora, " I never have." 

" Nor I," said Jack. 

" Well, look at that ridiculous bird, treading so 
gingerly on his toes, and please notice the way he 
holds his wings and his head ! The African Ostrich 
is the most valuable, and you see he is a big bird. 
He is eight feet tall and weighs three hundred 
pounds. The female lays about ninety eggs a year. 
You can tell the male because of the black body and 
the white on the wings and tail. He doesn't know 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 121 

that he is a walking milHner's shop, — with all those 
fine plumes under his tail. 

" The Rhea is the South American ostrich, and 
is the most graceful of all the birds of this family. 
It inhabits the pampas, where its enemies, the jaguar 
and the puma, have trouble to catch it, because its 
eyesight is very keen. Its dull grey plumage 
makes it quite unnoticeable in its native land. 

" Oh, here is the Whooping Crane, the largest 
of all the American Cranes. He nests in summer 
in the Arctic regions and in the winter goes as far 
south as Mexico, so you see he is a great traveller. 
The Whooping Crane is a very rare bird, so rare 
indeed that in eight years the Zoological Park has 
only had three specimens. Look at him now ! See, 
he is over five feet tall; his entire plumage is pure 
white; his tail feathers are long and arched; and 
isn't he a handsome bird as he spreads his wings, 
stretches out his neck and runs with long steps up 
and down his paddock ?*' 

" Why do they call him Whooping Crane ? " Jack 
asked. 

" Why, because of the peculiar noise that he 
makes. It is a loud, ringing cry, more like a 
trumpet-call than a whoop and it is produced in a 
peculiar way. The bird's windpipe, which is nearly 
five feet long, is coiled inside his hollowed breast 
bone, much like the spirals of a French horn, and 
that explains the noise that he makes which can be 
heard for half a mile. Where does he live? In 
the Western Plains and the Mississippi Valley. I 
think he is very graceful, though he is amusing. 
See what a lovely neck he has and what a finely 
poised head! 



122 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" There goes the Sandhill Crane. He comes 
from the eastern United States and was at one time 
common in the Mississippi Valley. He is slaty 
blue and the male is quite pugnacious, so don't go too 
near him. The Asiatic White Crane looks some- 
thing like our Whooping Crane and the Sarus Crane 
like our Sandhill Crane; but here is a different one 
altogether, — the Crowned Crane from Africa, 
handsome in colour and very gay wdth a crown of 
stiff feathers. 

" This gentle little bird is called the Demoiselle 
Crane, quite a dainty little lady. She comes from 
Africa; as does also the Paradise Crane with a 
drooping tail of feathers, and side feathers on its 
head. 

" Cranes are beautiful birds and strange birds, 
and they are up to all kinds of tricks and antics. 
Mr. Beebe says : 

" ' A stranger might imagine the cranes were 
crazy or affected by the heat if he came upon them 
during play time, and apparently that is what it 
can be termed. The Sandhills dance around in a 
circle, jumping about in the most grotesque way with 
outstretched wings and necks, continuing for lengthy 
periods, usually terminating the performance by 
a wild flight down the range. But the Asiatic white 
crane has two tricks which he performs with idiotic 
abandon and punctilious care. He selects some 
spot in the range, and bores a hole into the turf 
with his mandibles; standing over it he pumps his 
head up and down, until one wonders how long he 
can keep it going. If you go away and return in 
one hour, as I did, you will find him still at it. 
Again he seizes a feather in his beak and tosses it 
into the air, and as it falls leaps for it and catches it, 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 123 

repeating the trick, as the keeper told me, for over 
an hour at a time.* 

" These are queer birds," said Doodle, " the 
Crested Screamers." 

" Their faces have a very surprised look," said 
Nora, " and they waddle so strangely. Where do 
they come from? And why are they called 
Screamers? " 

*' They come from South America," replied 
Doodle, " and they take their name from the noise 
they make. They are, as you see, something like 
geese, though their feet are not webbed. Strange 
to say, they can swim, though not very rapidly. 
They place their nests among the reeds and water- 
lilies. Sometimes their nests actually float on the 
water. The Screamers are very gentle towards 
one another and they pair for life! They use the 
four long sharp spurs on their wings only for their 
enemies, but the South Americans catch the birds 
and make them the policemen of the poultry yard. 
They feed and live on the best terms with the 
chickens and ducks and keep away the hawks. The 
Screamer's two peculiarities are its wonderful 
power of flight and its extraordinary song. Hud- 
son says : 

" * It loves soaring, and will rise in an immense 
spiral until it wholly disappears from sight in the 
zenith, even in the brightest weather; and consider- 
ing its great bulk and dark colour, the height it 
ultimately attains must be very great. On sunny, 
windless days, especially in winter and spring, they 
often spend hours at a time in these sublime aerial 
exercises, slowly floating round and round in vast 
circles and singing at intervals. How so heavy and 
comparatively short-winged a bird can sustain itself 



124 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

for such long periods in the thin upper air to which 
it rises has not yet been explained. 

" ' When disturbed, or when the nest is ap- 
proached, both birds utter at intervals a loud 
alarm-cry, resembling in sound the anger-cry of 
the peacock, but twice as loud. At other times 
its voice is exercised in a kind of singing per- 
formance, in which male and female join, and 
which produces the effect of harmony. The male 
begins, the female takes up her part, and then 
with marvellous strength and spirit they pour 
forth a torrent of strangely contrasted sounds 
— some bassoon-like in their depth and volume, 
some like drum-beats, and others long, clear, and 
ringing. It is the loudest animal sound of the 
pampas, and its jubilant martial character strongly 
affects the mind in that silent, melancholy wilder- 
ness. The Screamers sing the year round, at 
all hours, both on the ground and when soaring; 
when in pairs the two birds invariably sing together, 
and when in flocks they sing in concert. At night 
they are heard about nine o'clock in the evening, 
and again just before dawn. It is not unusual, how- 
ever, to hear them singing at other hours.' " 

Walking a short distance south of the Ostrich 
House, they soon came to the Antelope House. 

** I know what you want to see first of all," ex- 
claimed Doodle, as they entered, " those two splen- 
did Nubian giraffes. They came from German 
East Africa in 1907 and cost $5,500. These two 
animals are great favourites because they are gentle 
and good-tempered and are always in good health. 
How tall are they? Well, the male is 13 feet, 8>4 
inches high and the female 12 feet, 4j^ inches high. 

" They eat clover hay, raw vegetables cut into 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 125 

very small pieces, bran and rock salt, and broken 
forage biscuits and they like to bite the tree tops." 

'' Why do they have such long necks ? " asked 
Nora. 

" They like to take their salad off tree-tops, and 
you can see how uncomfortable they are when they 
have to eat off the ground. Look at that one now 
bending his neck down. How awkward he is ! 

" Now, let us look at the Eland. The Eland is 
the handsomest and largest of all antelopes, but is 
now unfortunately nearly extinct. It used to roam 
over a great part of South Africa; but is now only 
to be found in Natal. The only captive herd is 
owned by the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey; 
and the handsome male that you are now looking at 
came from this herd. He is named Duke in honour 
of the Duke of Bedford. He stands about six feet 
and weighs two thousand pounds. Those splendid 
horns of his are two feet and a half long. 

'' The White-tailed Gnu is also very rare. He 
is very peculiar, resembling an ox, a horse and an 
antelope. The White Bearded Gnu and the 
Brindled, or Blue, Gnu are also interesting animals. 

" This is the place to see horns, let me tell you," 
continued Doodle, " this animal with spiral horns 
is the Addax; this antelope with curved horns is 
the Leucoryx; this one with straight horns is the 
Beisa, this one with tiny horns is the Nilgai from 
India. Among the rarest of these animals is the 
Beatrix Antelope, from the Arabian Desert; the 
Blessbok, a purple and white antelope from South 
Africa; and the nervous, peculiar Sing-Sing 
Waterbuck from West Africa." 

They spent no time in the Small Deer House, 
situated next to the Antelope House, where are 



126 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

sheltered and cared for many kinds of antelopes, 
gazelles and deer that are too small for the Antelope 
House and large ranges, because they were diverted 
by the amusing antics of the Prairie Dogs, whose 
little settlement lies on the other side of the road 
directly opposite to the Small Deer House. There 
they live — the gayest, maddest, merriest little imps 
possible to imagine, always whisking in and out of 
their burrows and then sitting on their mounds, 
happy as squirrels and as saucy as jay birds. 

" Now there is a funny sight that you would 
probably never see in any other Zoological Park 
in the world," said Doodle as they continued walk- 
ing westward, " half a dozen white Mountain Goats 
walking on the high peaked roof of their dwelling ! " 

"Where does this animal live, Doodle?" asked 
Jack. 

" The White Goat comes from Montana, Wash- 
ington and British Columbia, and these specimens 
all spring from the few that were captured on a 
tributary of the Bull River in 1905, a few days 
after their birth. They have lately shed their old 
coats and are consequently almost as white as snow. 
There is one queer thing about their hair — it ab- 
sorbs water and holds it for hours, so whenever it 
rains they have to be taken in-doors, for if they get 
wet they are likely to die. Some of the goats are 
natives of the Zoological Park, descendants of the 
original herd of five. They are fed on clean 
crushed oats, sliced carrots and potatoes, all the 
clover hay they want, and an occasional apple. 
For amusement and exercise, they climb over the 
roof of their barn and they behave sensibly towards 
their keepers. Very estimable characters ! " 

Just opposite and on the other side of the road 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 127 

extends the large Wild Fowl Pond, at the north end 
of which and beneath a large granite rock sheltered 
by many trees and bushes are the Wolf and Fox 
Dens which our party omitted to visit; and on the 
border of the Wild Fowd Pond and directly oppo- 
site the Mountain Goats is situated the Pheasants' 
Aviary. 

'' I think we still have time to see this fine Bird 
House," Doodle said, " with all its spacious run- 
w-ays. The pheasant tribe is one of the most beau- 
tiful of all families of birds. They are lovely in 
form and gorgeous of plumage. The most 
famous are the Reeves, the Amherst, the Argus, the 
Soemmerring, the Golden, the Silver and the 
Impeyan. The enormously long tailed pheasants 
are the Amherst and the Reeves. The Amherst 
pheasant is easily recognised by its very long tail 
and its cape of pure white feathers edged with 
semi-circles of black and steel-blue. The Soem- 
merring, sometimes called the Copper Pheasant, is 
a native of Japan. The Impeyan comes from the 
Himalaya Mountains, and is noted for the metallic 
lustre of its plumage which glistens in the sunlight 
with every shade of golden, green, blue, crimson and 
purple. The Jungle Fowl, the splendid Argus 
Pheasant, and the Indian Peacocks live in plains 
and hills and jungles of India; the Blood Pheas- 
ants and Eared Pheasants, in higher altitudes; and 
the Impeyans go for their food far up into the 
snows of the Himalaya Mountains — three thou- 
sand feet above the level of the sea ! 

" Pretty nearly all the w-eb-footed gentry that 
we saw in the Duck Aviary and on Cope Lake, are 
also to be found at Wild Fowl Pond. This is the 
Nursery and Kindergarten of the wild-fowl. Many 



128 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

nests are made here in the grass and reeds on the 
water's edge; and here all the downy little duck- 
lings and goslings are hatched and take their first 
lessons in swimming. 

" North of the Pheasants' Aviary, lie the Otter 
Pools. We really must stop here a few minutes to 
watch these charming and graceful little creatures 
at play. 

*' The Otter, being prized for its pretty fur, has 
been so pursued by the trapper that it is nearly 
extinct, especially in the north. It is still found in 
some portions of Florida and South Carolina. 
The Otters here came from Florida. ' Few people 
save woodsmen and naturalists,' says Mr. Horna- 
day, * are aware of the fact that in a wild state the 
otter is a very playful animal, and is fond of slid- 
ing down hill over a wet and muddy slide, with a 
water plunge at the bottom, as any young person 
is of * shooting the chutes.' Like the small boy 
with the sled and a snowy hillside the Otter some- 
times indulges in its sliding pastime for an hour 
at a time, with a keen relish for the sport that is 
quite evident to all who have ever watched it. Bet- 
ter exhibition animals it would be difficult to find. 
They are good tempered and sociable and their 
playfulness in the water is very entertaining to vis- 
itors. Their love of water is equal to that of a seal, 
and the supreme nonchalance with which they dive 
or roll or drop into it a hundred times a day, is very 
amusing. Moreover, in contrast to most small 
mammals, they are most active when visitors are 
most numerous and attentive. Often when in their 
den, at a familiar call they will come pouring out 
in a shiny, brown stream, for a special performance. 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 129 

For carnivorous animals, otters make very satis- 
factory pets, and often become quite docile, and 
even affectionate. The Otter is a carnivorous an- 
imal and in a wild state lives upon fish, frogs, crabs, 
young birds, small mammals, and, in fact, about 
any living thing which it can reach.' " 

The children were so fascinated with the Otters 
that it was almost impossible to get them away. 
At length, Doodle succeeded in leading them down 
the path that brought them to the Camel and Llama 
Houses. Here they saw the old camel with two 
humps, the familiar camel of picture-books, the real 
Ship of the Desert, who had shed his shaggy coat. 

'' Now let us look at the camels of the New 
World," said Doodle, " the soft-footed, long-necked 
Llamas, Alpacas, Guanacos and Vicunias. These 
are called cameloids. The Llama is the camel of 
the Andes ; the Alpaca is a little smaller and is bred 
for its wool; the other two, are the Guanaco and 
the Vicunia. The Guanaco has thick woolly and 
pale reddish hair. He comes from Patagonia, and 
is noted for his stupidity. The Vicunia is the 
smallest of the group and has comparatively short 
hair. He is found from Ecuador, through Peru to 
Bolivia. All of these animals are quarrelsome and 
cross and the males often indulge in terrible fights. 
When anyone of the cameloids flies intO' a passion, 
Mr. Hornaday tells us it will bite with the persist- 
ence of a bull-dog, and with its massive, chisel-like 
lower incisors inflicts ugly wounds. At times a 
llama or vicunia becomes actually insane, and seeks 
to destroy every living creature within its reach. 
Regardless of punishment, such creatures attack 
their keepers and their herd-mates, spit upon vis- 



130 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

itors, and rage up and down their corrals in most 
absurd fashion. Occasionally such individuals re- 
quire to be completely isolated." 

" Oh, I wish I could see one get angry," said 
Jack, " can't we stay a little while longer? " 

" I'm afraid we must be going," replied Doodle, 
" it is getting late and I'm afraid they are all in an 
amiable mood and will not oblige us. Besides we 
are so near the Crotona Entrance that I think we 
shall have to say good-bye to the animals. We 
haven't even time to visit the Elk Range that lies 
just north of us, which is a very pretty part of the 
Park with its oaks, maples and beeches and lake. 
The beautiful American deer — the Elk, the Mule 
Deer, from the Rocky Mountains, the Virginia 
Deer, the Woodland Caribou and the Lapland Rein- 
deer all roam there. We really must go." 

Passing out of the gate, they were fortunate 
enough to catch a trolley-car. 

" I feel as if I had been through Noah's Ark," 
said Nora, when they had taken their seats. 

" I feel," said Jack, in a superior tone, " as if I 
had been to the Garden of Eden." 

'' And I feel," said Doodle, " as if I had been to a 
great Emporium of Fashion. I am sure I have seen 
the latest styles in furs and feathers and skins; and 
I know the proper thing now in plumes and crests 
and aigrettes, and the correct width for stripes. 
Don't you remember the Grevy Zebra and the 
Tigers ? and I know the latest sizes in spots — 
don't you remember the Leopards and the Jaguars ? 
— and I have seen the most stylish necks for stylish 
collars — don't you remember the Giraffes ? — " 

" And Cobra hoods," said Jack. 

" And Turkey jabots," added Doodle. 



A DAY IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK 131 

" And Boas for the neck," added Nora. 

" And Gecko frills. And when it comes to the 
latest thing in side combs," said Doodle, " don't for- 
get the Sardinian Mouflon and the other mountain 
sheep; but joking aside, I'd think I'd like to dress 
like a pheasant, or a peacock, or, perhaps, like the 
big blue Macaw we all liked so much." 

'' I think I'd rather be a tiger," said Nora, " with 
all those splendid stripes and beautiful topaz eyes." 

" Oh, I shouldn't," said Jack. " I'll be one of 
the bears, or one of the giraffes, — oh, no! I won't 
either, I'll be the Jabiru, because he is so funny ! " 

" Perhaps you'd rather be a Kangaroo," sug- 
gested Doodle. " Fve changed my mind, I'm going 
to be an Otter." 

And Jack, remembering the ecstatic happiness of 
the Otters at their games, looked terribly distressed 
to think he had missed such a glorious transforma- 
tion, and that Doodle had appropriated it; and all 
the way home he was thoughtfully engaged in try- 
ing to reconcile himself to the fewer pleasures of 
the Marsupials from Australia, with whom he had 
cast his lot. 



CHAPTER VI 
A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS - 

IN WHICH THE HAPPY TRIO SPEND SEVERAL HOURS 
IN THE CONSERVATORY IN BRONX PARK SEEING 
SOME OF THE WONDERS AND BEAUTIES OF PLANT- 
LIFE. 

** Here we are," cried the children, as they en- 
tered Doodle's study one bright morning. " Mother 
gave us this basket ; but she would not tell us where 
you are going to take us to-day. Where are we 
going, Doodle ? Please tell us." 

" We are going to the Botanical Garden and Mu- 
seum in Bronx Park," answered Doodle, who was 
closing another small lunch basket. 

" There we shall find two of the largest conserva- 
tories in America for the cultivation of tropical 
plants and the largest Botanical Museum in the 
world. Besides these attractions, there are special 
out-of-door collections of trees, shrubs, plants and 
flowers, a great Hemlock Forest of forty acres, 
through which the Bronx River runs, dropping over 
the rocks to form a pretty waterfall." 

"And are we going to see all these things?" 
asked Jack. 

" No," replied Doodle, " we could not possibly 
see everything on one visit because the Botanical 

132 




£L.SrAT/OA/ 



PLAN OF BOTANICAL GARDEN 
DIRECTORY. 



1. Public Conservatories, Range i. lo. 

2. Elevated Railway Station. ii. 

3. Power House. 12. 

4. Bedford Park Avenue Entrance. 13. 

5. New York Central Railroad Sta- 14. 

tion. IS- 

6. Mosholu Parkway Entrance. 16. 

7. Muesum Building. 17- 

8. Pinetum. 18. 

9. Southern Boulevard Entrance. 27. 



Herbaceous Grounds. 

Morphological Garden. 

Economic Garden. 

Viticetum. 

Deciduous Woodlands. 

Hemlock Forest. 

Bronx Park Entrance. 

Gorge of the Bronx River. 

Water-fall. 

Bronx River. 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 133 

Garden covers about two hundred and fifty acres of 
land; and if you and I could walk over it all, I'm 
sure that Nora would give out." 

" Oh ! I can do anything that Jack can do," Nora 
announced emphatically. 

'' You're not going to be a suffragette, are you 
Nora ? " asked Doodle. 

'' What's that? " Nora inquired. 

" I know," said Jack, " you fight to vote with the 
men and you have to wear short hair. I'll cut 
yours off now, — snip, snip, snap!'' and, seizing the 
large scissors from the desk, Jack teasingly brought 
the blades together with three sharp clicks, as he 
waved them merrily and perilously near Nora's long 
brown hair, without, however, the slightest idea of 
harming it. 

Nora put her hands up to her hair in horror and 
ran to the other side of Doodle, who w^ent on un- 
concernedly : 

" We are going to take the Third Avenue Ele- 
vated to the New York Botanical Garden and go 
through the big Conservatory, which is very close 
to the station; that will use up the morning; then 
we are going to the Hemlock Forest and have a 
picnic lunch near the Waterfall; and, after lunch, 
we are going to stroll through the gardens and visit 
the Museum. After that I suppose w^e shall be 
tired enough to go home. Moreover, as it is nearly 
nine o'clock, I think we had better start now and 
have as long a day as possible." 

" Come on ! Come on ! " cried Jack, waving the 
smaller basket and excitedly leading the way. 

The trip in the Third Avenue Elevated to Bronx 
Park seemed very short. It was only a step or two 
from the station to the big Conservatory; and, after 



134 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

leaving their baskets in safe keeping, they began 
their trip through the various greenhouses. 

'' This first house," said Doodle, as they entered, 
" is devoted entirely to palms from the tropical re- 
gions of the Old World and the New." 

The children looked around interestedly at the 
great display of green leaves. 

'' Because of their majestic appearance, elegance, 
grace and beauty, and also, because of their great 
usefulness to man, palms have been called the 
' Princes of the Vegetable Kingdom,' " Doodle ex- 
plained. '' They are used for everything imag- 
inable, — for building, for thatching roofs, for fur- 
niture, for making clothes, hats, fans, umbrellas, 
mats, baskets and even for v^riting-paper. Some 
varieties produce sugar, starch, flour, wax, oil, gum, 
wine, dye-stuffs, tannin, vinegar, thread and cord; 
from others, cooling drinks are made; and the 
stems and buds of some palms make delicious food. 
This one is the Cocoanut Palm, wdiich grows in all 
tropical countries. It is a very handsome tree, and 
at home it reaches fifty or sixty feet and is sur- 
mounted by a crown of from sixteen to twenty 
leaves, each from ten to fifteen feet long. The 
nuts are hidden among the leaves. The natives of 
the tropics eat the cocoanut, ripe or unripe, drink 
the milk enclosed in the shell, eat the buds and parts 
of the stem, make palm wine and arrack from the 
sap, and cups and bowls and other utensils out of 
the shell. Then they use the fibre in various 
ways. They also get oil and soap and wax and 
candles from the tree and chew the root besides. 

" The ' Palm of the Desert' is another fine, use- 
ful tree. It is a wing-leaved palm that grows about 
fifty feet high, in the fertile spots that are called 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 135 

oases, and produces its fruit in bunches of twenty 
or thirty. This fruit forms an important article 
of food for milhons of people. You know the 
fruit very well, — dates. Yes ; this is the real Date 
Palm. 

" From this plant, with its fan-shaped leaves, 
the expensive Panama hats are made. 

" Now look at that group of Bamboo plants. 
The stems of the Chinese bamboo reach into the 
upper parts of the dome. These plants grow at 
the rate of eight inches a day and often attain the 
height of a hundred feet. After flowering, the 
stems die. The Bamboo is used in the East for 
many purposes. It is as useful as the Cocoanut. 
The natives use it for building houses and making 
fences; for water-pipes; for masts of ships; for 
paper; sticks; fans; and for furniture, and many 
utensils. The young stems and shoots are cooked 
and eaten and are said to be delicious. 

"This next house (No. 2) is also devoted to 
Palms, so we will just hurry through to the third 
house, in which we find some of the large members 
of the Lily family and the Amaryllis tribe, with 
their splended red, white and purple flowers, — a 
family that is scattered all over the world. This 
one with the large white flowers is the Spider Lily. 

" We cannot expect to find all of the 400 species 
of the Amaryllis family. There is very little 
family likeness between some of them. You cer- 
tainly w^ould never guess that the Narcissus and the 
Snowdrop were cousins of the American Aloe or 
Century-Plant, — would you? Well, they are, — 
and remind me that we must not forget to look at 
the Century Plant that they tell us will soon be in 
blossom. 



136 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" This plant is the famous Maguey of the West 
Indies, Central and South America. The thick 
fleshy leaves contain a large quantity of strong fibre 
known as Pita-thread, useful for making ropes, 
mats and other things. It is very spiny, as you see ; 
and is, therefore, much used for hedges. The 
Maguey is a relative of the Century-Plant. 

*' Now we come to the Dracaena family and the 
Sanseviera family — in common words — the 
Dragon-plants and the Hemp-plants. 

" Large tropical plants are housed in No. 4. 

" This is the Arrow-root, from which a kind of 
flour is obtained. It received its name because the 
Indians applied the roots to the wounds that they 
received from poisonous arrows. The Maranta 
family, to which it belongs, comes from the West 
Indies, the East Indies and tropical America. 
Some of them have beautiful leaves, — don't you 
think so? 

This is one of the most interesting houses.. On 
the pillars climb lovely creepers, such as the Night 
Blooming Jessamine and the gorgeous Allamanda 
with its great cups of yellow kid, sweetly per- 
fumed; other vines, you notice, are climbing over 
trunks of trees set as supports, among them the 
curious Philodendron that overruns the trees in the 
South American forests — that long name, trans- 
lated, means / love the trees! In this house we 
must look at some of the big Avoids, which are rel- 
atives of our familiar Jack-in-the-Pulpit and the 
Calla-Lily that we also^ know so well. One of these 
Aroids, called Veitch's Tail Flower, is one of the 
treasures of the Conservatory. 

" The Rubber-plants, you know ; but the Fig- 
trees, you probably have never seen. Now we 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 137 

come to four very interesting trees — the Banyan, 
the Pawpaw, the Bread fruit and the Chocolate. 

'' The Banyan belongs to the Mulberry family, and 
in India it grows to enormous size. It throws roots 
out from the branches which fall on the ground 
and grow up like pillars. The branches spread over 
these; and, after a time, a great big canopy is 
formed. One famous tree on the bank of the Nar- 
buddah could shelter seven thousand men! 

'' The Pawpaw is valued specially for its fruit, 
which is long, or round, and yellow when ripe. 
This is a native of .the West Indies. 

'* The Bread-fruit is also valued for its food. 
It grows about twenty or thirty feet high, with 
spreading branches and rough lobed leaves. The 
fruit looks something like a melon, or pine-apple, 
marked on the outside v^^ith a diamond pattern. 
The inside is white and tastes like wheat bread. 

" The bark is tough and when beaten out can be 
made into a beautiful white cloth." 

'' Which is the Chocolate tree. Doodle ? " asked 
Jack, who was particularly fond of chocolate. 

'' This one. It grows from sixteen to eighteen 
feet high and has broad oblong pointed leaves that 
are very thin. After its small flowers have blos- 
somed, then there comes a pod from six to ten 
inches long, containing fifty or more seeds. When 
ripe, these seeds are covered wdth a kind of gum. 
They are taken from the pod, slightly fermented 
and dried in the sun. Then they turn a brown 
and are sold for Chocolate beans or nuts. They 
are roasted, split or broken, and are then called 
cocoa-nibs. When ground, they are called cocoa- 
powder and are made into paste with vanilla and 
sugar. The last is called chocolate. But wait a 



138 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

minute — we have forgotten the Screw-pines, 
which come from the sea-shores of India and trop- 
ical islands. They look as if they were standing 
on props; and see their long sword-like leaves are 
armed with sharp spines! These leaves are made 
into baskets, mats, hats and other things. A kind 
of oil is also made from the flowers. 

*' Now for house No. 5, which is devoted to plants 
from desert regions. They have fleshy stems, or 
leaves, which absorb whatever moisture they can 
from the sand or rocks and store it up for future 
use, much as the camel does. Here are plants 
from South Africa, Mexico, Central America and 
our own great Western deserts. These are South 
African lilies — the Aloe, Gasteria and Haworthia 
— and here are some of those curious Carrion 
Flowers, — Stapelia is their botanical name. They 
are not only noted for their grotesque ap- 
pearance and their beautiful starlike flowers (some 
of which are spotted and others variegated), but 
because of their terrible odour, so similar to decaying 
meat, or carrion, that blue-bottle flies actually lay 
their eggs in the flower, where the young grubs, 
after feeling about for food, die because they can't 
find any, — all on account of the mistake made by 
their stupid parent. The Stapelias, of which there 
are about a hundred species, come from South 
Africa. 

" The Cactus family is one of the most interest- 
ing of all families of plants. Every member of the 
large tribe is peculiar and every one is covered 
with prickles, or spines. They have fleshy stems 
and no leaves. All produce beautiful flowers. The 
Cactus family is enormous : about eight hundred 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 139 

species are known, and nearly all of them are na- 
tives of the New World. 

" This group, for example, the Hedgehog Cac- 
tus, comprises about two hundred members. They 
are round, oblong, cylindrical, or ribbed, and are 
covered with stiff, sharp spines set in little woolly 
cushions. The flowers, which blossom at the top 
of the plant, are large and showy and are usually 
yellow, or pink. After the flowers have perished, 
then comes the fruit, covered with spines. 

'' Here are the Melon-thistles, or Turk's Cap Cac- 
tuses. You see all of these look like melons and all 
are supplied with bristles, or spines. At the top of 
the crown, the small pink flow^ers are produced 
from a mass of wool, and these flowers are fol- 
lowed by red berries. The Melon Thistles grow in 
rocky-places with very little earth; and in times of 
drought the cattle go to them to quench their thirst 
ripping them up with their horns to get at the in- 
side. The berries are eaten by the natives in the 
West Indies, Mexico and South America. 

" This group — the Mammillaria — has little 
cylinders, spirally arranged, which spring from a 
little woolly cushion. The tufts of spines are va- 
riously coloured; but are, as you see, usually w^hite 
and yellow. The flowers are rose-pink, purple, 
red, or yellow. 

" Here is the Old Man Cactus, with his long 
hoary locks; and here is the Opuntia, on which the 
cochineal insect, that supplies the red dye, is bred; 
and here are the members of the lovely C evens 
family. 

*' The Night-Blooming Cereus is one of the most 
wonderful and beautiful of flowers. It opens only 



I40 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

at night and gives out the most delicious scent im- 
aginable. Then after twelve o'clock, it slowly 
closes its petals forever, and becomes a most horri- 
ble object, covered with slime. 

'' The Prickly Pear blooms into large handsome 
yellow flowers all along the edges of the leaf. The 
flowers have a great many rows of petals and a 
fine rosette of stamens in the centre. The fruit is 
a kind of a berry, though very large, with hard 
little seeds buried in the pulp. The whole fruit is 
covered with prickly hairs to prevent undesirable 
animals from eating it. The birds, however, that 
break it up wath their bills and scatter the seeds, 
are welcome visitors to the plant. 

*' The fruit is pear-shaped, about two or three 
inches long, and is green, yellow, or red, and cov- 
ered wnih. tufts of small spines. It is juicy and 
wholesome. It is also known as the Indian fig 
and has been naturalised in Southern Europe, and 
in Algeria and other places in Africa. 

" The main object of the cactus's life is not to 
have its leaf eaten and to have its fruit eaten by 
the right bird or animal. So it takes all kinds of 
precautions to defend itself. Some varieties end 
their leaves with sharp dagger-like points such as 
the Agave; others bunches of prickles or needle-like 
spines, others have bunches of hairs that are very 
irritating to the sensitive noses of browsing goats, 
sheep or cattle. 

" The Stone-Crops from Mexico and Central 
America and the House Leeks from the Old World 
behave just like the Cactuses. They usually grow 
in chinks of the rocks or thirsty sandy soil and have 
thick succulent little stems and leaves, that are 
sticky and moist, if you squeeze or crush them. 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 141 

The Stone Crops drink up all the water they can 
by means of their roots and store it so that they 
will not wither when the hot sun beats down on 
them. Moreover, they are covered with an outer 
skin that prevents evaporation. The House Leeks 
often grow on the roofs of cottages, whence their 
name, and they can stand the suns without suffer- 
ing. In Ireland, a patch of House Leeks on the 
roof is regarded as a charm; for the people think 
no house will ever catch fire if the House Leek is 
present. 

''The next house (No. 6), is also devoted to 
desert plants, — mostly large ones. Here are vari- 
eties of the Century plants ; and here are the thread- 
bearing Agave, and Queen Victoria's Agave. This 
is the Mexican Huariqui, from wdiich green shoots 
issue in the rainy season and during the rest of the 
year it appears as if dead. Here are more Aloes; 
the Yucca; the Fig Marigolds from South Africa; 
and more Cactuses." 

"What is this enormous stiff Candlestick?" 
asked Nora. 

" This enormous stiff candlestick as you call it, 
Nora, is the Giant Cactus and it is often called in its 
native country, the Arizona Candle. When lighted, 
the spines burn readily and the flame runs along 
until it reaches the top of the great candle. Can 
you imagine what a forest of these look like? 
Hundreds of them sometimes grow on an acre of 
desert land rising to a height of fifty feet. The 
natives call it the Sahitaro, which means the * giant 
cactus.' They use it for firewood and for building 
houses and fences." 

" Does it have flowers? " asked Nora. 

" Yes ; large white waxy flowers, sometimes as 



142 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

many as fifty on a single branch. They bloom in 
May and June; and about midsummer the stems 
are full of ripe fruit, which most travellers like. 
They eat the fleshy part that surrounds the numer- 
ous small black seeds. The Indians come on their 
ponies and knock down the fruit with long poles. 
They eat the fruit, and also make a drink of it and 
a kind of jam, — and, as for the birds, they are 
crazy about it. The woodpeckers, finches, thrushes 
and other birds have a great feast and it is by their 
aid that the seeds are scattered. 

" The Giant Cactus also allows the woodpeckers 
and other birds to dig great holes in the branches 
in which they build their nests; and, when they 
have gone, the bats and owls often put up for a 
night in them; and the cactus-wren brings in some 
sticks and straws and sets up housekeeping. 

*' In No. 7 we find the Mimosa and Senna fam- 
ilies. They fold their leaves in sleep as twilight ap- 
proaches. 

''This is the Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica) 
whose leaves fold at the least touch. This is the 
Mahogany, of which fine furniture is made; this, 
the Logwood valuable for its dye; and this tree, 
the Balsam Copiaba, is found in the South American 
forests, growing to about 80 feet. The liquid 
Balsam collects in the inside of the tree; and, to 
get it, the collector cuts a hole in the trunk and 
out gushes the liquid at the rate of about a pint a 
minute. In a few hours the flow is over. The 
liquid is stored in hollow trees, floated down the 
rivers and shipped to Europe and North America, 
where it is used for medicines and perfumes. 

'' Here is the Tamarind, valued for its fruit, a 
wing-leaved tree of the bean family, and here are 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 143 

the Custard Apples, natives of the West Indies and 
tropical America; here is the Mammee Apple; here 
is the Chenille Plant, also called Philippine Medusa ; 
here is the plant that bears the Barbados Nut; here 
are the splendid showy Crotons, members of the 
Spurge family ; here are some Cactuses that grow on 
trees in the tropical forests; and here are some 
members of the Ginseng family from Manchuria. 
The Chinese use the Ginseng as a medicine. Its 
forked root has a curious likeness to the human 
body, and so they think it can cure every disease. 

"This house (No. 8) we will pass through 
quickly: here are some Begonias; various members 
of the Potato family; the African Violet; and the 
Ramie-plant of China, from which the ' grass cloth ' 
is woven. The next house, devoted to the water- 
plants is much more attractive. How pretty this 
pool looks from the bridge and what a fine display 
of grasses and graceful Bamboo plants! Do you 
know what that tall stalk is over there ? " 

" I don't ! " said Jack. 

" Nor I," added Nora. 

*' That is the Sugar-cane, from the stalks of 
which sugar is made. The sugar-cane is a kind 
of grass like bamboo. Among the sedges that one 
over there is the Papyrus Reed from which the 
Egyptians made paper. 

" How lovely the Water-Lilies are ; there are the 
Water Lettuce, the W^ater-Poppy, the Water- 
Hyacinth, the Water-Snowflake, the Parrots-Feather 
and the Floating Fern. 

"Now for the next house (No. 10). Here is 
a family we all know — the Aroids — the Calla 
Lily, the Sweet Flag, the Skunk Cabbage and Jack- 
in-the-Pulpit are all Aroids. We saw some larger 



144 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

members of this family in House No. 4. We must 
notice these Pineapples; and now look at those 
hanging baskets ! What do you see in them? " 

" Why they are little pitchers ! " exclaimed Jack. 

" Yes ; these are the Indian pitcher-plants — 
Nepenthes. In their native haunts, they are vines 
that grow on trees, and their leaves are shaped like 
pitchers with lids : they hold water and secrete a 
sticky juice that digests the insects that fall or 
crawl into the pitchers, and it is strange that all 
the hairs point downward so that the insects have 
to tumble in. People used to think that the 
pitchers were the flowers; but the flowers are very 
small and grow in clusters. There are many other 
varieties of pitcher-plants and plants that catch in- 
sects : we shall find some others presently. 

" In the next house (No. 11) we see some taller 
Pineapples, some Bananas, and members of the 
Ginger and Canna families. Here is the Musa 
textalis from the Philippines, that produces the 
Manilla hemp, and here is the Ginger Plant. 

" Now here is an interesting thing, — the Trav- 
eller's Tree from Madagascar." 

" Isn't it a kind of palm? " asked Jack. 

" Yes ; and it grows to about thirty or more 
feet. The broad leaves of the plant collect rain 
water which trickles down the leaf stalk and col- 
lects at the base; and all the traveller has to do is 
take his knife and pierce the stalk. The water 
gushes out, and he gets a refreshing drink. 

" In this house the chief plants to interest us are 
the Strelitzia tribe from South Africa. One of 
these is called the Bird of Paradise Flower, and here 
it is." 

*' Hello! another Pitcher-Plant," exclaimed Jack, 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 145 

glad to discover an old acquaintance, as they entered 
House No. 12. 

" Yes ; this has a lip something like a pitcher ; 
but the tube is tall and lined inside with hairs. It 
is also a carnivorous plant and attracts the insects, 
which die in the sticky juice and are gradually dis- 
solved and absorbed by the plant. These are also 
called Side-Saddle flowers, because the petals of 
the flowers hang down like a lady's riding dress. 

'' Here are some more insect-eating flowers, the 
Sundews, a most peculiar and interesting family. 
Their leaves are all furnished with small hairs, each 
one of which discharges at its tip a drop of thick 
acrid juice; and these leaves are so sensitive, or, as 
botanists say ' irritable,' that the leaves close to- 
gether or contract when touched. If a fly, or other 
insect, alights on the leaf, it closes together and 
imprisons it. Then the plant actually digests the 
insect by means of some kind of special juice. 

" Another insect-eating plant is the Venus-Fly- 
Trap, a native of North Carolina and a relative of 
the Sundew family — an American cousin. The 
leaves, as you see, rise fromi the centre in the form 
of a rosette; and each leaf is in two parts, or lobes, 
and each lobe is fringed with tiny hairs. The in- 
sect barely alights on one of these lobes, — when 
snap, the two parts shut as if with a spring, and 
the hairs interlace, just as your fingers do when you 
clasp your hands together. The sticky juice ab- 
sorbs the fly which is food for the plant.'' 

" I call that an easy way of going to market," 
said Jack. 

" This plant from Southern Africa is called 
Agathosma apiculata, and its leaves secrete an oil 
that is disagreeable at times. The Stinking Cedar, 



k 



146 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

from the Apalachicola River in Florida is a kind of 
yew. After we have looked at the Grevilleas and 
Hakeas from Australia, we will go into House 
No. 13." 

" Have we been through twelve houses already? '* 
asked Nora. " I never should have thought it ! " 

" We will pass by the Yews, Pines and Myrtles 
to look at this tall Bottle-Brush Tree and these Gum 
trees from Australia and Tasmania. The latter 
are the Eucalyptus, which grow sometimes to a 
height of 200 or 400 feet. The Camphor Tree is 
found chiefly in Sumatra and Borneo, where it 
grows as high as 90 feet.'' 

" Is this the camphor that we put up our clothes 
with from the moths?" asked Nora. 

" Yes ; the camphor is a gum. The tree is cut 
down and chopped into blocks; and the camphor 
gum is found in the fissures of the wood, — white 
and clear." 

" I love the smell of it," said Jack. 

" The beautiful Camellia, belongs to the Tea 
family," Doodle went on explaining; " and now we 
come to the Tea Plant itself." 

"What! The tea we drink?" asked Jack, very 
much surprised. 

" Yes ; and I am going to tell you a story about it, 
— the story the Chinese tell regarding its origin. 

" Once upon a time a devout and pious hermit 
during his wanderings became very, very sleepy 
while he was praying to his god, and was nearly 
overcome. But just as his eyelids closed, he tore 
them from his eyes and threw them on the ground. 
The god was so pleased that he immediately caused 
the tea-plant to spring up out of them, the leaves 
of which are in ' the form of an eyelid bordered 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 147 

with lashes and possess the gift of hindering 
sleep.' 

'' We have not much time to spend upon the 
Australian Acacias ; the Fig-tree ; the Oleanders ; the 
Olive; and the Yellow Jessamine, one of the sweet- 
est flowers that ever grew, is not in bloom. We 
must come here next February to see its sweet 
pretty bells. 

" The Fan-Palm of the California desert and the 
Palmetto of our southern states are also interesting. 

" And now for the next house (No. 14) in which 
are the Rosemary plants, some interesting members 
of the Thistle Family, and the Parachute flower 
from Natal, that sends its seeds off on the breeze 
like little balloons. Now we come to the Orchid 
House (No. 15). 

" The only plant in this house that is not an 
orchid is that fine palm on the central bench. It 
is one of the rarest palms in cultivation and is called 
the Coco de Mer — the Sea Cocoanut — and also 
the Double Cocoanut. It is a native of the small 
group of islands in the Indian Ocean, called the 
Seychelles, where it grows a hundred feet high and 
is crowned with fan-shaped leaves. The fruit is a 
long, oblong nut; and, when the outer rind is re- 
moved, the inside looks like two nuts. Carried by 
the sea to distant shores, people who had never seen 
the fruit growing, thought it was produced on some 
tree under the sea, and called it Coco de mer in 
consequence. The nuts grow in bunches, nine or 
ten nuts in each bunch, and which often weigh as 
much as four hundred pounds. The natives use the 
shell for various articles and make hats and baskets 
out of the leaves." 

" What are orchids. Doodle ? " asked Nora. 



148 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Orchid is the name given to a very large, pe- 
culiar and fascinating family of which there are 
more than five thousand species. With a few ex- 
ceptions that grow in the groves, meadows and 
marshes of Europe and North America (Jack-in- 
the-Pulpit is one), they are natives of tropical 
countries. They love to grow in hot, damp places 
and in dense jungles. Some of them, indeed, do 
not need any soil for their growth; but cling to 
the branches and trunks of the trees, or to stones 
and crags. These are called air-plants, and in the 
hot-houses, as you see here, are cultivated on blocks 
of oak or other wood, with or without moss about 
their roots. 

" Orchids are the most fantastic of all flowers 
and have the queerest habits. The blossoms are 
strange in form, beautifully coloured and most 
of them deliciously scented, like the Vanilla, 
for instance which — here it is — is an air- 
plant. One peculiarity of the Orchid is that it has 
one largely developed petal, a kind of under lip, 
which is not only bigger than the other petals but 
always more beautifully coloured, spotted or 
splashed, than the rest. Botanists say that it is 
decorated and arranged to attract the insect. The 
latter always alight upon it — a sort of door-step 
to the flower, that attracts the wished- for visitor." 

" Why does the orchid want to attract the in- 
sect? " asked Nora. 

" The orchid wants the insect (generally a bee) 
to carry the pollen off to some of the other orchids 
in the distance; and attracts him with the beautiful 
colours and scents and honey; and when the insect 
alights and pushes his furry little body into the 
flower, some of the pollen rubs off upon the insect's 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 149 

back, or on his twiddling feelers, and off he goes 
with the pollen. Some of the orchids are so anx- 
ious to have the insect enter their cups that as soon 
as he alights on the doorstep, or lip, the doorstep 
gives a kind of spring and shoots him down into 
the flower." 

" I never heard of such a queer thing," said Nora. 

"If all these orchids were in bloom," said Doodle, 
" we should see a great variety of strange shapes. 
Some would look like butterflies; some, like big 
moths; some, like snakes, toads, lizards, bees, flies, 
spiders, or dragon-flies ; some, like helmets, swords, 
spurs, slippers, arrows, caps and heads; and some, 
like birds — even to the imitation of the feathers. 
Some strange ones resemble swans, with proudly 
swelling necks, and others a pure white dove hover- 
ing in the centre of the snowy petals. Here is a 
butterfly, with yellow wings dotted with brown 
spots, — and here is a crimson grasshopper ! Did 
you ever know that there were such peculiar 
flowers?" 

"How did they get all these orchids, Doodle?" 
asked Jack. 

" That is a very interesting question. Jack. They 
were collected at great cost of time, money and hard- 
ship. The orchid-hunter has to be a very brave man. 
Orchids grow, as I told you, in very inaccessible 
places, in the depths of dark, damp, hot jungles, 
where the hunter has to cut his way through the 
tangled mass of foliage and ropes of vines, — in 
some cases where man has never set foot before. 
Often, too, he has to seek for his plants among 
savages, or half-civilised tribes that resent his in- 
trusion. Sometimes he has to wade through stag- 
nant swamps, be on the watch for wild beasts, such as 



I50 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

tigers and panthers and pumas, and guard against 
the bite of poisonous snakes, Hzards, spiders, ants, 
flies and other insects that he cannot distinguish in 
the dense jungle from the leaves and sticks and 
blossoms. You have seen some of the snakes — 
the Boas and Bush-masters and Anacondas in the 
Reptile House in the Zoological Park. So terrible 
and fatal are the dangers, that many a daring or- 
chid-hunter loses his life, or falls ill with some 
dreadful fever and dies. 

" When an orchid-hunter sees a flower that he 
wants, there are three ways to get it: he may cut 
down the tree to which it clings; he may lasso the 
branch on which it hangs; or he may climb up to 
the orchid, — but if he does this he is often con- 
fronted by the head of a venomous snake among 
the leaves and millions and millions of angry ants 
make a dash at him. 

" Then, too, it is a disappointing business, be- 
cause, after months and months of searching and 
the patient gathering of many specimens, they may 
be lost on the way home, or hurt in some way. I 
have heard of one hunter, who, after months of 
searching, got four thousand rare orchids together; 
and on the way home a fire broke out in the ship's 
hold and burned every one of them! Another 
time a collector spent a year in the Philippines, 
with a hundred natives and secured a thousand 
plants; but not one survived; and on another oc- 
casion twenty-seven thousand beautiful orchids 
were collected and only two lived. No wonder 
that these specimens are highly prized and are 
valued at thousands and thousands of dollars ! " 

On their way out the party stopped at the Con- 
servatory Court to see the large Century Plant 



A MORNING WITH THE PLANTS 151 

" That tall stalk in the centre, which is now about 
eight feet high, is growing at the rate of two inches 
a day," Doodle explained, " and when it becomes 
about twice as high as it is now, it will flower. 
People used to think that the Century Plant bloomed 
only when it reached the age of a hundred years 
and that when it blossomed it made a noise like a 
gun. Now botanists say that it flowers at the age 
of forty or fifty years, and dies immediately after- 
wards. In Mexico, the Century Plant is used for 
fences, and from it the national drink, Pulque, is 
made. 



CHAPTER VII 
A PICNIC BY THE WATERFALL 

IN WHICH JACK AND NORA ENJOY A FEAST IN THE 
HEMLOCK FOREST AND LEARN THE QUEER HAB- 
ITS AND OUTRAGEOUS CONDUCT OF SOME MEMBERS 
OF THE VEGETABLE WORLD; AFTER A STROLL 
THROUGH THE GARDENS AND THE BOTANICAL 
MUSEUM, RETURN HOME, QUITE TIRED AFTER A 
LONG AND HAPPY DAY. 

" Now we will get our baskets and stroll down 
to the Hemlock Forest," said Doodle, '' and have 
our luncheon by the Waterfall. This path leading 
between the Morphological Garden and the Her- 
baceous grounds and through the Woodlands will 
certainly bring us there, — that is, if this map is to 
be trusted. What do you think ? " and Doodle 
handed the map to Jack. 

The latter, looking at it earnestly for a minute 
was quite satisfied with the diagram's good inten- 
tions; and so they wandered along enjoying the 
pretty scenery; the hot smell of the grass and trees; 
and the bright sunlight ; and even the sharp, sizzling 
call of the locusts. 

" I didn't know it was such a big Waterfall," 
said Nora, when they reached this charming spot, 
where the Bronx makes its leap over the rocks. 

" Here is a jolly place for us to sit ! " cried Jack, 
who had run on ahead and discovered a big boulder 

152 



A PICNIC BY THE WATERFALL 153 

comfortably provided with ledges and corners, 
" and now let's open the baskets. I'll take this one ! 
May I open it? " 

" I think," said Doodle, nodding assent, " that 
we have seen everything that we have brought with 
us growing in its original state except these dainty 
sandwiches that your Mother made, for we haven't 
seen any wheatfields and we haven't seen any pigs 
or chickens." 

" I haven't seen any napkin plants," laughed 
Nora. 

" We can see the flax out of which linen is made 
presently; and you certainly saw the bananas grow- 
ing, and the beans out of which this cake of sweet 
chocolate was made," replied Doodle, unpacking 
the other basket, " and the figs and the dates — " 
' " Oh ! what's this ! " interrupted Jack, as he took 
out of his basket some round yellow cakes, thin as 

" Aha ! " said Doodle. '' Guess ! " 

*' I can't ! I give it up," said Jack. 

" Cassava bread," answered Doodle, " made from 
the Manihot, one of the Spurge family you saw in 
the Conservatory." 

" Does it grow like bread-fruit? " asked Nora. 

" No ; this is made from the roots. The natives 
of the West Indies and tropical America grate the 
fleshy roots, then pound the mess into a kind of 
flour which they make into cakes. People eat 
Cassava bread a great deal in those countries." 

" I like it," said Jack, taking a cautious nibble 
at one, and then looking at it critically. 

" So do I," said Nora, munching away industri- 
ously at hers. 

" Here are some lemons," continued Doodle, 



154 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" and some sugar (you saw the lemon-trees and 
the sugar-cane) and here are two little glasses and 
Jack's folding-cup. We will have some lemonade 
ready in a minute. Nora, will you please squeeze 
the lemons, while I get the water? " 

" How I love picnics ! " and Nora gave a de- 
lighted sigh of contentment. 

"I don't/' said Jack airily. "I hate 'em/' 
which was his peculiar boyish way of getting rid 
of his enthusiasm. 

" Well you have seen a great many plants/' said 
Doodle, while they were enjoying their lunch '' and 
now you know that there is a great world of plants. 
Plants seem to have two ideas and they struggle 
with might and main to accomplish their objects. 
The first is how to nourish and take care of them- 
selves; and the second is to have a large family. 
So the first thing they do is to grow strong and 
healthy and keep well — everything that you have 
to do, except run and play. They can't do that, 
poor things ! " 

" Poor things ! " laughed Nora. 

" They don't have to do one thing that we have 
to do," sighed Jack, " and that is go to school.'" 

" They may not go to school/' said Doodle, " but 
they certainly are very wonderfully educated." 

*^ Educated!'' exclaimed Nora and Jack in as- 
tonishment, " what do you mean. Doodle, how edu- 
cated?" 

" I will tell you a few facts about plants ; and 
then you can tell me if you don't think they have 
learned a great deal in Nature's great school. 

" To get strong and keep well, then, they have to 
feed and drink and sleep and breathe the proper air 
and get the right amount of sunshine or shade and 



A PICNIC BY THE WATERFALL 155 

sleep and keep a sharp look out against their ene- 
mies." 

** Sleep and eat ! " exclaimed the children. 

" Generally speaking, they feed through their 
leaves. On the under side of the leaf are many 
little mouths, or cells, which absorb the air and 
digest it, so to speak, taking in the carbonic acid, 
which the plant wants, and giving out the oxygen, 
which it does not want. Now animals and people 
do the opposite. We breathe the oxygen and re- 
ject the carbonic acid; and, so, you see, there is a 
kind of bargain or agreement between us. To be 
healthy, the plant has to have sunshine ; and the most 
perfect plants are those which have the leaves so 
arranged that each and all get as much sunlight and 
air as possible. 

" After feeding in the sunlight and air all day, 
the plant rests at night, often folding its leaves to- 
gether. You may have seen the clover do this. 
Some plants also sleep in the day time, turning 
their sensitive leaves edgewise to the sun. 

" Now in order to get the light and air which 
is food for them — except those insect-eating plants 
that we saw — they behave most outrageously ; and 
while I want you to admire the beauties and won- 
ders of the vegetable world, I do not want you to 
admire the selfish and reprehensible character of 
plants. They will condescend to commit every 
mean action, underhand trick, and wicked deed." 

Jack and Nora opened their eyes very wide. 

" In the Brazil Nut, fifteen or twenty seeds germ- 
inate at once and the strongest gets through a 
little hole in the top and strangles and feeds upon 
all its sisters and brothers ! What do you think of 
that? 



156 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" I know of another plant ^ that produces a great 
many seeds and the vigorous seeds go to work and 
kill all the weak ones. What do you think of 
thatl 

" And I know of another that ^ grows up from a 
seed dropped on a certain tree, sends its long root 
into the soil and presently chokes and strangles its 
foster mother! What do you think of thaf^ " 

The children looked horrified; but soon Nora, 
with a twinkle in her brown eyes, asked : " Don't 
you know of any plants that have better man- 
ners?" 

" Yes, I do," answered Doodle, " and kinder 
hearts. My plant acquaintance isn't restricted to 
bad characters. Many plants take great care of 
their little ones, for instance. They don't go so far 
as to buy pretty cradles draped with silk and lace 
for their babies; but they certainly do wrap them 
up in the softest, nicest downiest leaves you can 
imagine and provide sunshades and umbrellas to 
protect them from too much light or too much rain. 
Some of the large-leaved palms — those that we 
saw in the Palm House ( fourteen feet long) tie the 
young ones in at the base of the leaf for the sake of 
protection; the young buds of some tropical trees 
hang downwards, so as to expose the least surface 
to the sun ; and some plants place prickles and spines, 
sticky gum, or a globe of sap, around the tiny child. 

" On the other hand, some plants, like the Wild 
Carrot, for example, (you see I am constantly think- 
ing about my bad acquaintances) produces so many 
seeds that the parent doesn't care if hundreds of its 
offspring die, because plenty are left to carry on 

1 The Herculeum giganteunu 

2 The Ficus parasitica. 



A PICNIC BY THE WATERFALL 157 

the family name and traditions. Now what do you 
think, — are plants educated or not?" 

" What / would like to know," said Jack, " is, 
who taught the plants to do all these things." 

" And so should I," said Doodle, *' very, very 
much. My watch, however, says that we shall not 
have very long to stay in the Museum unless we 
hurry away; and, besides, we want to go back by 
way of the Herbaceous Grounds." 

Retracing their steps along the same path by 
which they reached the Waterfall, the three then 
encircled the Herbaceous Grounds. In this sys- 
tematic plantation the plants are grouped by natural 
families in botanical relationship. Through this 
pretty valley, moreover, runs a small stream, 
which here and there widens into pools; and along 
the stream, or in it, many aquatic plants are to be 
seen. 

Doodle thought it best to begin where the series 
of beds starts in the southern corner of the valley, 
at the foot-path entrance where the hardy ferns are 
planted. In the neighbouring pond are cat-tails and 
reeds ; and, following to the north, comes the large 
group of grasses, such as the Timothy, Kentucky 
blue-grass, reed-canary grass, the Japanese plume- 
grass, the ribbon-grass and the sweet vernal grass 
that has such a pleasant odour when bruised; then 
come the sedges and the bullrushes; and then the 
arums, including Jack-in-the-Pulpit and the sweet 
flags. 

Next the rush family; the lily family, with their 
relatives, the onions, for neighbours ; the amaryllis 
family; and then the iris family, with all the pretty 
varieties of blue and yellow flags, claimed their at- 
tention. 



158 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

Crossing the brook they now came to the begin- 
ning of the sequence of plants with net-veined 
leaves — nettles, wild ginger, buckwheat, docks, 
rhubarb and the goose foot family; next the ama- 
ranth family, including some of the commonest 
weeds of our roadsides, one of which was the Four 
o'clock, the flowers of which opens in the after- 
noons. Three beds of pinks happened to be in 
bloom ; and then in the first big pool here also some 
of the water-lily family — yellow ones, white ones, 
pink ones. Among the beds westward they saw 
some larkspurs, columbines, buttercups. 

*' Columbines for me ! " cried Jack as he spied the 
lovely scarlet bells, for which he had a great fancy. 

'' Now let us look for the poppies," said Doodle, 
*' and here they are — from Japan and Mexico and 
many other places ; and as we are not very far away 
from the roses, suppose we see if in the five beds 
devoted to the Queen of Flowers there are any in 
bloom!" 

Not far from the spurges they found the flax 
plants, from the fibre of which linen is made; but 
time being short Doodle concluded not to walk fur- 
ther afield to see the mallows and hollyhocks, the 
rock-roses, the primroses, plumbagos, milkweeds, 
phloxes, mint, foxgloves, plantain family, bell-flower 
family and the cardinal flowers; but passed to the 
great thistle family, which includes the splendid sun 
flowers. 

" If I were going to have a garden," said Nora, 
*' I would plant it with fairy flowers, entirely. I 
would have nothing in it but fairy flowers." 

" So would I," said Jack, " what can we plant. 
Doodle?" 

" Roses first, plenty of roses, and honeysuckle. 



A PICNIC BY THE WATERFALL 159 

violets and wild thyme and plenty of cowslips — 
Ariel used to lie in a cowslip's bell, you remember; 
and don't forget the foxgloves and plenty of ferns; 
and you can have four-leaved clovers, and tulips — 
faries rock their babies in the cups of the tulips — 
and — " 

" Some toad-stools and mushrooms for tables ! " 
cried Jack, " fairies always sit at mushrooms and 
toad-stools at their parties." 

" Oh, of course! " replied Doodle, " and wherever 
the fairies dance, the green grass rings will spring 
up; and oh, by the w^ay, don't forget an elder bush, 
for at twelve o'clock on Midsummer Night the 
King of Fairy-land will pass under it, as sure as 
you live; but whatever you do, don't plant any 
yellow flowers because fairies abominate yellow 
flowers/' 

''Oh! what shall I do?" exclaimed Nora, "for 
I love yellow flowers so dearly." 

"Do they like red, Doodle?" asked Jack, with 
much concern. " Red's my favourite colour." 

" Oh, yes ! They like the cowslips because they 
are speckled with rubies, you know; and rubies are 
red. But here we are at the Museum." 

Pausing to look at the bronze fountain that 
adorns the approach to this building and to rest a 
moment or two on the marble seats, they entered 
the main floor of the Museum, which is devoted 
to the exhibition of plant products that are useful 
to man. 

" We saw useful plants growing in the Conserva- 
tories this morning," said Doodle, " here we can see 
what articles are made from them. This whole floor 
is devoted to foods, fibres, drugs and woods. All 
that big East Hall and East Wing contains cases 



i6o THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

full of drugs and North American woods. I 
think, however, we will not trouble to go through 
it; and so we will quickly look at the fibres (cotton, 
linen, hemp, etc.) in Sections 1-3 in the West Hall; 
at the India-rubber, with the implements and uten- 
sils used in collecting * rubber-milk ' from the 
tropical trees (Section 4) ; spices and flavouring ex- 
tracts — ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, etc. 
(Section 5) ; tanning-materials, fodder-plants, to- 
bacco and other chewing plants; chocolate, coffee, 
and other beverages; and oils, starches, cork, paper 
and sugars (Sections 5-1 1). The last three sec- 
tions (12-14) in the West Hall are occupied by 
foods. 

" So much for this floor. Now let us go up- 
stairs. Here we find specimens, drawings and 
photographs of all the natural families of plants, 
beginning with the simplest and ending with the 
most complex ones. So here is displayed in one 
way or another the whole plant-world. 

" These cases will interest you. I think — the 
Sea-weeds — brown ones, green ones, red, pink 
and purple ones; and next to them we may glance 
at the fungi, which include mushrooms and lichens ; 
and then at all the mosses and ferns; and now we 
come to the flowering-plants (Cases 56 to 128) 
and the fruit-bearing plants. But we can't stop 
here, any longer, for it is getting late. Suppose we 
go into the basement to see the fossil plants." The 
children were of course willing and Doodle told 
them that thousands and thousands and thousands of 
years ago, before man appeared on the earth, the 
trees and plants and flowers were growing all over 
the world ; and that their leaves and stems and trunks 
falling on the sands and mud left their impression. 



A PICNIC BY THE WATERFALL i6i 

In the course of time, the sand and mud were covered 
over by other layers of sand and mud and after a 
while turned to solid rock. Some of the plants 
long ago turned to coal, and that rocks with these 
impressions are called fossil rocks. 

" We will begin at the first case to the left as 
we enter,'' said Doodle. " Now these fossils that 
we see in cases Nos. i to 4 were originally marine 
plants that turned to coal; and we also find here 
the earliest fern-plants; cone-bearing plants, like 
cedars and firs; and seed-bearing plants. In case 
No. 5 the plants are mostly sago-palms, or cycads, 
fern plants and cone-bearers; in No. 6 plants of a 
later period are shown — those that bear seeds are 
becoming more numerous in this age (they are 
called Angiosperms) ; but the ferns and cone- 
bearers are still growing. Now we cross over into 
the other side of the hall, where Nos. 7 and 8 ex- 
hibit what is called the Middle Cretaceous Flora; 
in No. 9 are plants of the Upper Cretaceous; and 
in Nos. 10 to 12, the Neozoic, early Tertiary, 
Eocene, Miocene and Quaternary plants. We 
will look up these hard names the first rainy day 
when we sha'n't want to go anywhere and I have 
many pictures that will show you what the earth 
looked like when these plants were growing. All 
these fossils, however, show us that our earth was 
first covered with sea-weeds; then came ferns and 
club-mosses; then the cone-bearing trees, such as 
pines and firs; then the plants with one seed-leaf, 
like the palms and cycads; then the grasses; then 
the flower-bearing plants; and then, last of all the 
insect-fertilised plants with the most beautiful 
flowers of all. 

" Butterflies have been found in fossil-rocks, just 



i62 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

about the time that the flowers and plants that we 
see in cases Nos. lo to 12 appeared; but scientists 
believe that bees, wasps, beetles, ants and other 
insects were in existence before the butterflies and 
moths came. The fossils in Nos. 11 and 12, show 
us that our earth wore a beautiful garment thous- 
ands of years ago. Trees, shrubs, grasses and 
flowering plants were abundant. Blossoming 
magnolias, plum, hawthorn, almond and tulip trees 
and flowers with starry crowns like daisies, dande- 
lions and sunflowers were scattered all over the 
world, while on the ponds and rivers lovely water 
lilies opened their cups to the golden light of the 
same sun that shines to-day. 

'' There, they are beginning to close the Museum 
— it is five o'clock and we shall have to hurry if we 
want to catch the next train." 

'' I think we can do it," said Jack. 

Hurrying to the station they were fortunate 
enough to arrive just as the train came pufling 
along; and were, therefore enabled to reach home 
before dark. 



CHAPTER VIII 

A VISIT TO THE NATURAL HISTORY 

MUSEUM 

IN WHICH NORA, JACK AND DOODLE SEE SOME 
VISITORS FROM THE STARRY SKIES; CURIOSITIES 
OF THE SAVAGE RACES; ARTICLES FROM THE 
NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE NORTH POLE; MAKE 
THE ACQUAINTANCE OF GIGANTIC MONSTERS OF 
PRE-HISTORIC TIMES; AND SEE MANY OTHER 
THINGS OF INTEREST. 

" What are we going to see here? " the children 
asked Doodle, as they approached the entrance of 
the Natural History Museum on 77th Street be- 
tween Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. 

" We are going to see some things that will help 
us understand the history of our earth. We have 
seen fishes at the Aquarium; birds, animals and 
reptiles at the Zoological Park; trees, plants and 
flowers at the Botanical Gardens; — now we will 
learn something about the strange creatures that 
lived on our globe before the days of man. We 
saw the impressions of a few fossil plants, you 
remember, in the great slabs of rocks in the Botan- 
ical Museum the other day,— well, to-day we are 
gomg to see some fossil animals ; we are also going 
to look at the Indian and Mexican and Eskimo 
articles; and the stuffed birds and animals;— oh, 
I don't know what else. We will just walk through 

163 



i64 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

the different floors and stop at what strikes our 
fancy. Here we are." 

Passing under the stairway, they found them- 
selves in the big Foyer. 

" I think they might have found something 
prettier to put in this room than those old black 
stones," said Nora, as she cast a quick glance 
around the Foyer, in which the meteors are ex- 
hibited. 

"Did you ever see a shooting-star?" asked 
Doodle. 

'' Oh, yes ! lots of them," the children replied ; 
" but what has that got to do with these old stones 
and rocks ? " 

" A very great deal," Doodle responded, " all 
these stones and rocks that you see here were once 
shooting-stars ! " 

The children looked incredulous. 

" Come, let us find a quiet seat," said Doodle, 
" and I will tell you all about them. 

" Our earth travels around the sun in a circle 
or orbit, — the same old road year after year; and, 
as it rolls along, sometimes it comes into contact 
with other bodies that are also travelling around 
the sun. Sometimes these small bodies, or pieces 
of matter, are attracted by us — we being so much 
larger — and they come into our atmosphere and 
fall upon us. As they come into our atmosphere, 
the immense speed at which they are going and 
the heat we give out produces incandescence, and 
the outside of the meteor becomes liquid. As the 
shooting-star dashes along, leaving a great stream 
of fire behind it — a real fiery tail — naturally 
it gets smaller as its head burns up, and it some- 
times becomes all tail and falls to the earth in a 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 165 

shower of dust; or, it dashes along outside of our 
atmosphere- goodness knows where in the starry 
sk,es-or It explodes and falls to earth in a shower 

the Foyer »""'' °' '" ^''^' ^'^ ^^°'^' ^^^ *hose in 
Jac'k°° "'^■^ ^''^^-^^ ^^" '" ^^^ ^^"^ place?" asked 
. "Oh, dear no ! Meteors fall anywhere : chiefly 
in the ocean ; for there is so much more water on 
our globe than land, you know. These, of course 
we never hear from; and many others fall in rel 
mote places, and we never hear of them, either- 
but meteors often drop upon inhabited places, too' 
In ancient t.mes people thought the stones that fell 
from the sky were sent directly from the gods, and 
therefore they placed them in temples and wor^ 
shipped them. The image of the Goddess nTana 
at Jtphesus was probably a meteorite because it was 
said to have ' fallen down from Jupiter.' The 
Idol of Venus of Cyprus was another meteor te 
and people think that the great black rock -the 
Kaaba- that the Mohammedans reverence at 
Mecca, was originally a shooting-star. 

A meteor cares very little where it falls It 
drops with the greatest indifference into the sea 
into the centre of a field, into the side of a moun- 

iT'Jli -"1° .^,^'^*'"g "ver. One might fall on 
top of this building, or on top of the house you live 
in at any moment Why, only a few days ago 
ufJ^-* ^ perfectly round meteor weighing 
about five pounds, dashed out of the sky with a 
sharp hiss, crashed against the blind of a house in 
Montrose Mass., set the house on fire and fell to 
the ground, where it was found." 
" Do they fall often? " asked Jack 



i66 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" People say," Doodle answered " that from 
fifteen to twenty millions of meteors enter the 
earth's atmosphere every day; but very few reach 
the earth." 

'' What happens to them ? " asked Nora. 

" They are simply burned up," Doodle explained, 
" All we see is a trail of light across the sky. 
There are now seven hundred meteorites known, 
and these are in museums and private cabinets. 
Not one in a hundred million of the shooting-stars 
reaches the earth in a recognisable mass." 

" Can we see meteors whenever we look for 
them?" Jack inquired. 

" You can see shooting-stars almost every even- 
ing," Doodle answered, " but there are great 
showers of them in August and November. The 
November meteors are often called Leonids be- 
cause they are usually seen in the direction of the 
constellation of Leo, the lion; some people think 
that our earth goes through a little belt of meteors 
at this season." 

" I will look for some this very night," said Jack. 

** Now you understand," continued Doodle, 
** what makes these black stones so interesting to 
us. They are visitors from regions beyond our 
own atmosphere — visitors from space beyond our 
world; and it is also interesting to know that these 
pieces of matter are composed of the same in- 
gredients as our own rocks." 

" What are they made of? " inquired Nora, open- 
ing her eyes very wide. 

'' First, iron in very large quantities ; then oxygen, 
silicon, magnesium, nickel, sulphur, calcium and 
aluminum. The other elements found in meteor- 
ites are carbon, chlorine, chormium, cobalt, copper, 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 167 

hydrogen, manganese, nitrogen, phosphorus po- 
tassium and sodium. Then, too, in some meteor- 
ites other ingredients are found that do not exist 
on our earth. Diamonds are found in them some- 
times. Canyon Diablo, over there, contained a 
diamond. You can see the spot from which it was 
taken. Run over and look at it, and then come 
back." 

The children did so, and wdien they had returned. 
Doodle explained to them that there are three kinds 
of meteorites; first come Siderites, or iron meteor- 
ites composed chiefly of iron; then, Siderolites, 
or iron-stone meteorites, which are a kind of nickel- 
iron sponge, full of stones; and lastly, aerolites, or 
stone meteorites, which are made of stones with 
grains of nickel-iron scattered through them. 

'' Now let us go and look at those black masses 
that once were dazzlingly beautiful shooting-stars," 
said Doodle, rising and leading the way back to the 
Foyer. " This one, Ahnighto, is the biggest me- 
teorite in the world — that is to say, the biggest 
one we know of. Explorers who went to Greenland 
used to be much surprised to see the Eskimos with 
knives and other weapons made of iron, because it 
was known that there was no iron in Greenland; 
and when asked where they got it the Eskimos 
used to say ' From the Great Irons.' For hundreds, 
and, perhaps, for thousands, of years these three big 
meteors lay on the north coast of Melville Bay 
near Cape York, and the first white man to see 
them was Commander Peary who persuaded an 
Eskimo, named Tallakoteah, to take him to them 
in 1894. This big one was known as The Tent; 
this one, the Woman, because the Eskimos thought 
it looked Hke a woman squatting on the ground 



i68 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

with a baby in her arms ; and this smaller one, was 
known as the Dog. 

"Of course, the Eskimos hadn't the slightest idea 
that these wonderful rocks were meteors : all they 
cared about them was to go and chip pieces off 
them for their knives and heads of their harpoons. 
Well, Peary succeeded in bringing the Dog and the 
Woman back with him in 1895, in which year he 
also saw The Tent, which was four miles away 
from the others. In 1897 he brought this one 
home in the ship Hope and renamed it for his 
daughter Ahnighto. 

" Ahnighto (the rock and not the daughter) is 
10 feet, II inches long, 6 feet, 9 inches high and 5 
feet, 2 inches thick through. All three contain iron, 
nickel, cobalt, copper, sulphur, phosphorus and car- 
bon; and because they are composed of the same in- 
gredients and were found so close together, people 
think they were all parts of the same shooting-star." 

Passing to another one. Doodle explained: 

" This great stone, known as Willamette, is the 
largest iron meteorite ever found in the United 
States. It is 10 feet long, over six feet high, and 
weighs over thirty-one thousand pounds. In 1902 
two men were looking for gold and silver in a 
forest near Portland, Oregon, and they came across 
this great piece of iron. The extraordinary thing 
about Willamette is that it is all full of holes. 

" A meteor is usually named from the nearest 
town to which it falls. This one called Selma, 
for instance, fell near Selma, Alabama, in 1898; 
but it was not found until 1906. It travelled across 
the sky with a heavy, rumbling noise with a fiery 
tail of ten or twelve feet long. Selma is rare be- 
cause it is one single stone. 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 169 

" This one fell near Long Island, Kansas, and 
burst into thousands of pieces, all of which were 
found near each other. The mass probably burst 
as it struck the ground. Canyon Diablo (you see 
there are two pieces of it) is interesting because 
it contained diamonds, which are very rare in the 
meteors that have come to our earth. Canyon 
Diablo was found in 1891 in Arizona, and though 
thousands of pieces have been found, the great big 
mass has not yet been discovered." 

'' What is this one with a big hole in it? " asked 
Jack. 

*' This is a reproduction only. The real meteor, 
known as Tucson, is in the National Museum in 
Washington. I remember it when I was a very 
small child and used to go to Washington. 

" The only two w^e haven't looked at," continued 
Doodle, " are Forest City and Brenham. Bren- 
ham was found in Kansas in 1886, scattered all 
about a prairie where stones are very rare. For 
many years people did not know that these rocks 
were meteorites. Forest City burst over a town 
of that name in Iowa in 1890. At five o'clock in 
the afternoon a brilliant ball of fire flew across the 
sky, making a terrible noise like thunder and a dis- 
play of flame like fireworks. The explosions 
were heard for two hundred miles and more than a 
thousand fragments have been found." 

The next hall they visited (No. 106) was the 
one devoted to the great Jesup collection of Trees 
of North America — the most complete collection 
of the kind in any museum. The children were 
much interested in looking at the specimens accom- 
panied with the reproductions of leaves and flowers 
and the water-colour sketches; but Doodle hurried 



I70 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

them along to the Hall of Invertebrate Zoology, 
also called Synoptic Hall, (No. 107), pointing out 
the two enormous slices of trees here that also be- 
long to the Jesup Collection. One of these is a 
section of the Sequoia, or Big Tree, which is nine 
feet in circumference. The tree was 350 feet high! 
The other, a Douglas Spruce, has five hundred and 
sixty-nine rings. 

** That tree was 569 years old," said Doodle, 
" when it was cut down. It started growing in 
1340 and was 152 years old when Columbus dis- 
covered this country ! " 

" This room," continued Doodle, " contains 
specimens of the lowest and highest form of animal 
life — microscopical animals, beautiful sponges, 
models of living coral-forming animals and all sorts 
of things, some of which have been alive and some 
of which are only enlarged models. This Giant 
Spider Crab, for example, was once alive. Now 
just look at him ! He measures nearly twelve feet 
between the tips of his out-stretched claws. He is 
only found in very deep waters. This example 
came from a depth of two thousand feet, off the 
coast of Japan. The British Museum in London 
has a big one that is highly prized; but it is not 
as big as this." 

"What is that queer thing?" asked Jack, who 
had been intently observing the model of a Giant 
Squid whose enormous tentacles reach nearly across 
the room. " Was that ever alive ? " 

" No," replied Doodle, " that is an enlarged 
model of the Common Squid that is very common 
on the Atlantic coast, particularly near Woods 
Hole, Massachusetts, where it is very destructive 
to the herring-fisheries." 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 171 

*' Oh, dear!" exclaimed Nora, "I think I never 
saw such a horrid thing as he is." 

" Not even the Green Moray at the Aquarium ? " 
asked Jack. 

" No, not even the Green Moray," answered 
Nora, emphatically, '' and, goodness knows, he 
was bad enough ! " 

" I agree with you," said Doodle. " Shall I 
point out some of his charms ? " 

'* Oh do ! " cried the children, '' tell us about him, 
Doodle." 

" Well, then," said Doodle, '' in the first place, 
he is a relative of the Octopus and the Cuttle-fish, 
and is one of the big Cephalopoda, or head-footed, 
family." 

" Head-footed ! " exclaimed Nora. 

" Yes ; head- footed. He moves, or swims, or 
walks, or whatever you like to call it, with those 
arms, or feet, or tentacles that are fastened to his 
head. His mouth opens in the middle of his arms, 
or tentacles, and is furnished with a strong, horny 
beak, like a parrot's, specially adapted for tearing 
flesh. His eyes are big and keen. Eight of those 
ten flexible arms are studded all over with suckers 
for grasping his prey. The other two arms have 
suckers only on the two club-shaped ends. His 
body is sprinkled with pale pink spots, which, when 
the creature is excited, become a deep red." 

** Blushes ? " queried Jack. 

" How silly ! " exclaimed Nora. " Don't inter- 
rupt Doodle. I want to know some more about 
him." 

'' Another queer thing," continued Doodle, " is 
that he has inside of him an ink-bag! " 

"An ink-bag!" exclaimed Nora, "real ink?" 



172 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" A black fluid anyway," said Doodle. " So 
when he wants to escape from either an enemy or 
a friend (somebody to whom he owes a letter or 
a party call), he simply empties his bag into the 
water, which becomes black, of course; and he 
rapidly swims away. 

" But this isn't the only queer thing about Mr. 
Squid. He generally swims head foremost, and 
yet he can reverse his engines and swim backwards 
like a flash of lightning. 

" Scientific people say that 

" * The mode of progression is unique in the ani- 
mal kingdom. The body proper is inclosed on 
the lower side in a mantle cavity, to which water 
is freely admitted. At the entrance to this cavity 
is a flexible funnel, or siphon, with the small end 
pointing outward and forward. By filling the 
mantle cavity with water and forcibly ejecting it 
through this funnel the animal is shot backward 
like a sky-rocket and at remarkable speed. When 
going forward the mouth of the funnel is bent so 
as to shoot the stream of water backward.' 

*' I wish we had time to look at all these 
sponges," said Doodle, " the sponge you use for 
bathing is only one kind, you know. There are 
many varieties scattered all over the world in the 
deep seas. They are all sizes, from that of a pin's 
head to that of a big man; and there are sponges 
of all shapes — domes, fans, trees, cups, goblets, 
cakes and lovely vases and clusters of trumpet, or 
tube-like, forms; and all colours, too, — reds, yel- 
lows, oranges, blues, greens, lovely whites and even 
shining black; but the loveliest of all are the glass 
sponges found in the tropical seas. Look at this 
glass rope sponge, for instance; and this beautiful 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 173 

thing, called Venus's Flower Basket. Could you 
imagine anything prettier than this?" 

'* What is a sponge, Doodle ? " asked Jack. ** Is 
it alive?" 

" Yes ; a sponge is one single animal, or a colony 
of animals. It is always attached to the bottom of 
the sea and cannot move; and that is the reason 
people used to consider it a plant. Sponges are 
very low in the scale of life. 

" Corals are low, too. People used to speak of 
the ' coral insect ' that built up the coral reefs and 
islands; but it is a real animal, — a Zoophyte. 
(We saw some Zoophytes in the Aquarium, you 
remember, don't you?) Coral is a sort of chalky 
deposit of many kinds of Zoophytes. From the 
original polyp little buds spring, which, in their 
turn, produce buds and each bud deposits its chalky 
substance upon the layers of former generations. 
Sometimes the whole mass grows in the shape of a 
cup; or it branches like a shrub; or spreads out 
like a fan; or it assumes the form of a flower, or a 
mushroom. 

" The formation of coral goes on with w^onder- 
ful rapidity, at the rate of several feet in a few 
months; and presently an island or atoll is formed, 
or a long reef is built up entirely by these little 
creatures. 

'' In these cases are many specimens lovely in 
colour and form ; — but come here. Now what do 
you think this is ? " and Doodle led the children to 
a series of glass models showing the mosquito from 
the cradle to the grave, or rather to the period of 
maturity when its vicious nature is fully developed. 

The children were appalled, as they looked at 
the male and female monsters. 



174 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Are they real ones ? " asked Nora. " Do mos- 
quitoes ever grow as big as these? " 

" No," said Doodle, " these are glass mosquitoes, 
seventy-five times the size of the ordinary beast. 
On this scale, Mrs. Mosquito is one and a half 
feet high, three feet long, the spread of her wings 
is three feet and the mouth part — that awful beak 
— is a foot long ! They say Mr. Mosquito is a 
harmless gentleman; but I wouldn't trust him, and 
that Mrs. Mosquito is the Grand Inquisitor. She 
takes what she considers a comfortable position — 
say on your little hand — and drives that terrible 
beak into your tender flesh, pumps up the blood into 
her own gizzard and stomach; and, when she has 
had all she wants, she very kindly leaves some 
poison in place of the blood she has stolen." 

As they passed on to the North Hall, Doodle 
stopped a moment to explain that one great work 
of this Museum is the study of the native races of 
our continent and their relations to the peoples of 
the Old World. ^' Expeditions have been and are 
constantly being sent out to study various tribes of 
Indians and other races of northwestern America 
and northeastern Siberia," said Doodle. " Of 
course, these men who go exploring naturally study 
these primitive tribes ; learn their language ; see how 
they live; and bring home specimens of their 
houses, their costumes and all the things they make 
and use in their daily living. 

" We could spend days and days here," continued 
Doodle, " looking at all these relics of the North 
American Indians, the Siberian tribes, the Mexicans, 
the Peruvians and others. There is one room de- 
voted entirely to the North American Indians, and 
in this hall (No. io8) we find a big collection that 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 175 

represents the life of the tribes of the northwestern 
coast of America. All the specimens are arranged 
so as to show the habits and customs of the people : 
their baskets, blankets, bows and arrows, spears and 
fish-hooks, articles of dress, mats, ornaments, ca- 
noes, snow-shoes, weapons, musical-instruments, 
dolls, carvings, and the tall totem-poles bearing the 
crests and other symbolic designs of the family, or 
clan." 

" We saw a totem-pole in the Zoological Park," 
interrupted Jack. 

'* Masks, too, you see are very important," 
Doodle went on. " Now, for instance, here is a 
full set of ceremonial masks, illustrating all the im- 
portant gods of the tribe, the chief of which is the 
Sun." 

The children, however, were more interested in 
the enormous Haida Canoe made by the Bella Bella 
tribe, that live opposite Queen Charlotte Islands, in 
British Columbia. This canoe is sixty-four feet 
long and eight feet w^ide and was hollowed out of 
a single tree, fantastically decorated and painted 
with bright colours. 

Of all the various figures clad in native costume 
and represented as busy at their occupations, how- 
ever, the groups that most attracted their notice 
were those of the Eskimo — partly because they 
had heard so much lately at home about the North 
Pole and the Peary Expedition, so, of course. Jack 
and Nora were greatly delighted to see a real sledge 
that Peary had used in the Arctic regions, to which 
eight real Eskimo dogs had been harnessed, — a 
sledge that had been drawn over snow and ice in 
the dark days of winter and under the rays of the 
midnight sun. They also took a vital interest in 



176 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

the lurid Arctic pictures painted on the walls, and 
in the life-sized groups of men and women in the 
cases, making or mending harpoons, harness, or 
garments. One woman fishing through a hole in 
the ice and another cooking by means of an oil- 
lamp struck their fancy until they saw the more 
attractive representation of an Eskimo scene in an- 
other case. The miniature snow-hut, the tiny sledge 
with the dogs and the people scattered over the 
snow were as fascinating as a doll's house. Then, 
of course, they asked Doodle tO' tell them something 
about the Eskimos. Doodle, therefore, told them 
that the Eskimos are a race of people that dwell 
in the Arctic regions; that they are a kind of link 
between the Mongolians and the Red Indians of 
North America; that they live in little villages on 
the coast consisting of not more than six or seven 
families; that the men spend their time hunting 
and fishing and the women in preparing their cloth- 
ing and the cooking, though much of the food is 
eaten raw, while they drink the blood of newly killed 
animals, considering it a delicacy; that in summer 
they live in tents and in the long winters, when the 
days are as dark as the nights, in snow-huts, — so, 
therefore, this pretty little scene before them is a win- 
ter one. Then Doodle took them tO' the other side 
of the room to show them the carvings made by 
the Eskimo out of ivory from the tusks of the 
walrus and other creatures, representing objects — 
people and animals with which they were familiar 
— dogs in various attitudes ; men throwing the har- 
poon ; and little animals, — all wonderfully exe- 
cuted with great spirit and correct action, proving 
how observant is the eye and how skilful is the 
hand of man who is little more than a savage, and 




Eskimo woman fishing through the ice. 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 177 

how he entertains himself with making artistic ob- 
jects. 

" Let us take the elevator now," said Doodle, 
" and go to the Second Floor." 

Entering the hall of the North American Mam- 
mals (No. 206), in the east wing. Doodle told them 
that the two principal exhibits here are the groups 
representing the Buffalo and the Moose ; but, as 
they had seen the herd of live Buffaloes in the 
Zoological Park, the children did not care for these. 
" The Moose group," Doodle explained, " is prob- 
ably the most elaborate of its kind in any museum; 
for no less than twenty thousand artificial leaves 
were used to represent the autumnal woods of New 
Brunswick. 

" These ridiculous old walruses," added Doodle, 
as they walked from case to case, " were found on 
the Peary Relief Expedition of 1895. However, 
we have seen so many live animals and birds in the 
Zoological Park, that we will not spend any time 
here on the stuffed ones, but just take a hasty 
glance at some of the groups of birds so naturally 
mounted with their nests and eggs and little ones. 

" Almost all birds, you know, make a nest of 
some kind for the reception of their eggs; some 
nests also serve as cradles for the little birds when 
they are hatched. The materials of the nests, as 
well as their forms and general manufacture, vary 
greatly; but most of them are softly Hned. Even 
those birds, like the parrots and woodpeckers, that 
lay their eggs in the holes of trees, enlarge the 
hole by means of their bills; and the chips pro- 
duced by this performance form a soft layer for 
the inside. Most birds, however, collect sticks, 
straws, moss, wool, feathers, hair and threads of 



178 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

silk or cotton, and lay all the materials among the 
branches of the tree, or on the surface of a rock, 
and then interweave these articles in a most in- 
genious manner to form a more or less cup-shaped 
nest, lining the inside with the softest materials 
they can find. The bill is, in fact, a needle, with 
which the bird really sews his nest together. Some 
birds build their nests in high trees ; others, in 
trunks of trees; others, on the ground, hidden 
among the grasses ; some in an old stump, or hollow 
tree ; some in briery bushes ; some in sand-banks ; 
and some birds take another bird's old abandoned 
nest and repair it to suit their needs. Look at 
Bob White over there on the ground? and how do 
you like the Screech Owl who has just made this 
hole in the hollow tree? I like these black ducks 
and their little ones — " 

" Oh ! what are these things like bottles hanging 
from the tree?" interrupted Jack, ''they can't be 
nests ! Yes they are, for here are the birds ! " 

" Oh, what pretty birds ! " exclaimed Nora, " all 
black and yellow, and here is one who has poked 
herself down into the bottle. Oh! how funny! 
And here is another, hanging upside down at the 
bottom ! " 

" This bird," explained Doodle, " is a tropical 
relative of the Baltimore Oriole, — the Crested 
Cassique, who makes even a more marvellous nest 
than the Oriole does. He is very social and likes 
to live in a colony. As many as a hundred nests 
have been found suspended from the branches of 
a single tree. These nests and birds were collected 
in Trinidad, for the Cassique is found from 
Southern Brazil as far as Panama." 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 179 

" What is this nest made of ? " Nora inquired, 
observing it carefully. 

" The nest is made of various vegetable fibres 
strongly interwoven and firmly suspended at the 
top. If you could see within, you would find it 
softly lined and the w^hole thing is as deftly and 
strongly made as if by a needle. The entrance is at 
the top. This one shows a bird peeping out. An 
old lady who saw these nests said she thought a 
bird that could make such a nest could be taught 
to darn stockings, — what do you think?" 

" The bird might be taught to darn stockings ; 
but I don't believe the old lady could be taught to 
make a nest like that," laughed Nora. 

'' I don't think she could either," replied Doodle, 
adding, " we had better stop to look at the Great 
Auk, which became extinct about sixty years ago; 
also the Labrador Duck, one of the features of the 
collection; and now we come to a bird that I think 
even more interesting, — a bird that changes his 
clothes with the seasons — the Ptarmigan." 

'' Where does he live ? " asked Jack. 

" In the Arctic regions," said Doodle, " in Nor- 
way and Scotland and on this side of the water, 
too, in the low valleys and plains and on sea-shore. 
The great idea of the Ptarmigan is to escape obser- 
vation, whether among the grasses and the lichen- 
covered rocks of summer, or among the snows of 
winter. He doesn't wait for the latest styles from 
Paris, or London, or New York ; but he puts on his 
grey Easter clothes marked with black bars; and, 
after a few months, his summer tweeds that 
match the landscape; then, he dons his autumn 
finery; and, last of all, wraps himself in his lovely 



i8o THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

snow-white mantle for the winter. See, here he is, 
represented in his four handsome costumes." 

As they now walked on the skeleton of a large 
elephant struck Doodle, who stopped a moment, 
quite forgetting the presence of Nora and Jack, 
looking upon it with a retrospective eye, and ex- 
claiming: " Well! I do declare! Here is Jumbo! " 

Neither Jack nor Nora were much impressed; 
but, seeing that their companion regarded it so 
attentively, looked again at the great white frame- 
work and tried their best to see what the attraction 
really was, but with no results. 

At last Jack broke the silence : " What is Jumbo ? " 

For a minute Doodle looked astonished, and then 
explained : " Why, Jumbo was a great, big elephant 
that was captured in Africa — perhaps the biggest 
elephant that ever was captured, and he was taken 
to London and exhibited in the Zoological Gar- 
dens. Then he was brought to this country by 
Barnum, who took Jumbo, I suppose, to every big 
city and many little towns in the United States; 
and when I was a little boy — " 

"" You a little boy," laughed Jack. 

" Well, then, when I was a httle girl — " 

" You 2L little girl," laughed Nora. 

" Well then when I was neither, or both," 
laughed Doodle, " everybody knew about Barnum's 
Circus and Jumbo. Everybody went to see 
Jumbo ! His name was used to describe anything 
that was extraordinarily large and he was the sen- 
sation of the times. He was not a performing 
elephant: all he did was to march in the proces- 
sions of the circus through the streets and around 
the ring in the Circus tent. One peculiarity of his 
was very long fore-legs and very short hind legs — 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM i8i 

he looked something Hke Httle Congo in the Zo- 
ological Park, only very, very large. Now I'll tell 
you something very strange. / have ridden on 
Jumbo's back! Poor old Jumbo! He was killed 
in a railway accident and here are his poor old 
bones ! " 

Jack and Nora now regarded the remains of the 
great Circus celebrity with feelings of awe and 
were somewhat elated to be with one who had 
known Jumbo in his better days. Doodle, however, 
moved on, remarking: 

" Whenever the animals in the Park Menagerie, 
or the Zoological Park, die, they are sent to the 
Natural History Museum to be mounted. In this 
case lies Sultan, the lion that Mr. Carnegie gave to 
the latter; and somewhere in this collection we shall 
find an ostrich that died about ten years ago. No- 
body could imagine what killed him, for he had 
been in the very best of health. He was sent here 
to be stuffed; but the people that ripped him up 
found that he had died of too much stuffing! 
Ostriches know that they can eat everything and 
anything; but this bird overdid it; for they found 
in his stomach two small metal purses, one tooth- 
brush, two combs, three leather pocket-books, thir- 
teen nails, six screws, some hairpins, four large 
needles, five half burnt cigars, some matches, a piece 
of wood, a piece of cloth, two kid gloves and three 
handkerchiefs.'' 

Jack and Nora laughed heartily as they wandered 
along until they reached a case of brilliant birds, 
specially lighted with electricity, so that the mar- 
vellous colours and iridescent gleaming of the 
feathers can be fully appreciated by the visitors. 
Doodle told the children that these rare Birds of 



l82 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

Paradise are confined to a very small portion of the 
earth's surface. They live only in New Guinea and 
the neighbouring islands ; but in great numbers, and 
make a magnificent appearance as they flit about 
from tree to tree. " Beautiful yellow plumes spring 
from the sides of the body beneath the wings, you 
see," said Doodle, " and are decomposed, that is to 
say, all the barbs of the feathers are separate from 
each other, while the two centre filaments of the 
tail are carried out, as you see, into two long 
threads or filaments. See what beautiful plumage 
these birds have ; what velvet-like softness ; what 
beautiful lines! In different lights, you notice, they 
throw off different colours, emerald green, reddish- 
brown, bronzed green and violet, golden tints, 
copper lustre, cinnamon-red, chestnut-brown, and 
splendid blues. Many strange stories are told of 
these birds, too. The Emerald Bird of Paradise, 
for instance, was thought to have no feet, because 
the natives used to cut its legs off before they 
sold it. People used to imagine that the Bird 
of Paradise, therefore, had to pass its whole life on 
the wing, because it could never perch; others 
thought it hung itself downward by those long tail 
filaments from the branch of a tree. 

" Oh; stop a minute," cried Doodle, as they were 
walking down a long corridor and about to pass by 
a pretty case containing what appeared to be merely 
the branch of a tree and a cluster of pink orchids. 
— '' What a pretty group this is ! The tree is the 
nutmeg; the orchid, the lovely Phalcenopsis sckil- 
leriana of Indo-Malaysia ; the climbing creeper, a 
sort of grape vine; and, why, I declare, here is a 
Butterfly — the Leptocircus curins; and look! there 
are several beetles! What I want you specially to 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 183 

look at, however, is the little Flying Dragon, or 
Flying Lizard, captured in the island of Nias, off 
Sumatra. You see he is a regular little air-ship, — 
swift, fantastic and graceful. His sides act just 
like aeroplanes, as the animal jumps or floats from 
tree to tree in search of the insects on which he 
feeds. His ribs are something like the ribs of an 
umbrella and his wings are supported on these. 
When the Flying Dragon wishes to put them in 
action, his muscles bring the ribs forward and un- 
furl the wings which uphold the dragon in the air 
as he proceeds from tree to tree, or wherever he 
wants to go. He doesn't seem to move like the 
bird, or bat, by beating the air with a succession of 
strokes, so we may consider his wings a kind of 
natural parachute which he can expand at will. 
When he doesn't want to fly, he folds up those ribs, 
just like a fan, against his little body. The three 
little pointed appendages on the throat of the 
male are orange; on the female, they are blue. 
The metallic sheen and the prettily marked wings 
of the little animal help conceal him from his ene- 
mies and also from the insects he wants to prey 
upon. This little Flying Dragon is the last of a 
great race. He is a descendant of the great 
Saurians that we shall see presently. Now we must 
go up-stairs." 

When they reached the Third Floor, the chief 
thing that attracted the children's attention was the 
life-sized model of the big whale in the East Mam- 
mal Hall (No. 306) of the gallery floor. This 
monster, made of papier-mache, upon a wire shell, 
built over an iron frame, is seventy feet long, and 
appears as if swimming. 

Doodle explained that this specimen is a represen- 



1 84 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

tation of the Atlantic Sulphur Bottom Whale, the 
largest of all living marine animals, sometimes at- 
taining a weight of one hundred and forty-seven 
tons; that he gets his name from the colour of his 
under side; and that he is found in both the At- 
lantic and Pacific oceans, though he is growing very 
rare. 

" But if you want to see a real whale, or rather 
the skeleton of one,'' continued Doodle, " come this 
way/' 

So saying, they walked into the North Hall 
(No. 308), where, suspended from the ceiling, they 
beheld the complete skeleton of a Fin-back Whale, 
or Rorqual, that was captured off Provincetown, 
Mass., in 1896. 

" When alive," said Doodle, " this creature 
measures about sixty-three feet. The Fin-back 
is hunted all along our coasts from North Carolina 
to Newfoundland and now he is killed with har- 
poons that explode when they strike him." 

In the Third Floor they saw many birds and an- 
imals of North America and the stuffed figures of 
the monkey celebrities — Mr. Crowley, Kitty 
Banana and Chico. They were greatly interested 
in the beautiful butterflies and moths that have 
been gathered from all parts of the world, — from 
Mexico, Central and South America, India, the 
Malay Islands, Australia, Japan, Africa, Europe 
and North America. 

Among the rarer specimens that attracted their 
notice were the brilliant blue morphos; the papilio- 
homerus from Jamaica; the Dynastor Napoleon 
from Rio Janeiro; the owl-faced butterflies; the 
swallowtails; the milk-weed and glass-winged but- 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 185 

terflies; and the citron, orange, lemon and white 
butterflies. 

In the department devoted to Entomology 
(No. 307), they greatly enjoyed the beetles, and 
were surprised to see that many of them were en- 
cased in gorgeous suits of armour that shone with 
hues of green and blue and bronze. 

The bees also fascinated them and also the great 
nests of Termites, those terrible tropical ants. 
" Thousands of ants live in a colony, which consists 
of a queen, males, workers, and soldiers," Doodle 
told them, adding, " and, strange to say,vthe workers 
and soldiers have no eyes ! " 

One of these nests, three feet high and twenty- 
two inches in diameter (nearly two yards around) 
was found in one of the Bahama Islands on an old 
stump in the middle of a pineapple plantation. 

They passed rapidly through the department de- 
voted to the ethnology and archaeology of South 
America, and Doodle explained the great value of 
the Peruvian collection and promised to tell the 
children more about the Incas on the next rainy day. 
Here they were struck, as so many others have been, 
with the peculiar mummified body, popularly known 
as the " Copper Lady," that was found in a copper 
mine in Chili, showing that the miner, probably a 
woman, was caught by a cave-in of the roof, and 
partly crushed. 

" We cannot stop here any longer," said Doodle, 
" for the next floor is one of the best of all. 

" Indeed," added Doodle, as the elevator stopped 
to let them off, " Dinosaur Hall is to many people 
the most interesting in the Museum. It contains 
skeletons of extinct monsters, many of which lived 



i86 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

long before the appearance of man upon the earth. 
Here we see the hind legs of the largest beast of 
prey that ever existed — the Tyrannosaurus — and 
a skull of a still larger, but inoffensive animal — 
the Triceratops, or Horned Dinosaur. This skull 
was discovered last year (1909) in Montana and it 
is hoped that the rest of the remains will soon be 
found. It is the largest skull of any land animal, 
known to science, being about seven feet long and 
weighing nearly eight hundred pounds." 

" What does Dinosaur mean? " asked Jack. 

" The word Dinosaur," replied Doodle, " means 
* terrible lizard,' and it is applied to a large family 
of animals, some of which lived entirely on land, 
and others in the water as well. They are classed 
as reptiles, and many of them have a general re- 
semblance to crocodiles, while the bones of others 
resemble those of an ostrich. Their remains are 
found on every continent, and they dominated the 
animal kingdom throughout the Mesozoic period 
before the appearance of man. Their bones show 
a great variety of forms or types. They were all 
quadrupeds and often the hind legs were much 
longer than the front ones. They varied greatly 
both in size and appearance ; some were bigger than 
any modern elephant and others were only two feet 
long. Some lived on flesh, and others only on 
vegetable growth. The former are known as 
Carnivora and the latter as Herbivora. 

" It is possible to distinguish between the Carniv- 
ora and Herbivora by the character of the teeth. 
Carnivores have large sharp teeth for cutting and 
chewing, but never for grinding. The structure 
and habits of an extinct animal can also be gathered 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 187 

by experts from an examination of the bones of the 
legs and the back called the vertebrae. 

" Professor Owen, a great authority, said : 

" * If I were restricted to a single specimen on 
which to deduce the nature of an extinct animal, 
I should choose a vertebra to work out a reptile 
and a tooth in the case of a mammal.' 

'' By measuring the brain cavities in the skulls 
also, students are able to form a very good idea of 
the nature and capacity of the brains and general 
intelligence of the animal. 

" It has been found out that the brain develop- 
ment of these gigantic animals was small, and it is 
therefore supposed that they had very little sense. 

" Here is another enormous creature," said 
Doodle leading the way to the Brontosaurus. 
" This peculiar thing was one of the largest of the 
amphibious Dinosaurs that lived in the Age of 
Reptiles, — at least eight milHon years ago. It was 
the largest kind of animal that ever lived, except 
some kinds of whales, and no bigger animal ever 
walked on four legs. The Brontosaurus spent its 
life in shallow water, partly immersed and occa- 
sionally swimming, at which exercise its long tail 
was a great aid. The length of its neck enabled 
it to reach its food from the bottom and from trees 
growing out of the water. Its food was principally 
aquatic plants. Its very small brain and slender 
spinal cord show that it was a stupid reptile, of 
slow movement. Its feet left tracks in the mud 
measuring a square yard. Its bones are often 
found in places where it evidently had become mired 
as cattle do to-day in swamps and on river and lake 
margins. Its swimming and wading habits enabled 



i88 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

it to keep somewhat out of reach of the Carniv- 
orous Dinosaurs, that were its principal enemies. 

" This gigantic skeleton was discovered in 
Wyoming in 1898 and it took seven years to col- 
lect, remove and mount the fragments! Its length 
is sixty-six feet, eight inches ; height fifteen feet, 
two inches ; and weight about forty tons. Its 
thigh bone alone weighs five hundred and seventy 
pounds. 

" The chief enemy of the Brontosaurus," con- 
tinued Doodle, " was the huge Allosaurus, which, 
though smaller than its victim, had a great advan- 
tage in teeth and claws. Look at this dramatic 
group — a skeleton of an Allosaurus standing over 
that of a Brontosaurus in the act of feeding upon 
it. 

" The remains of the two monsters were dis- 
covered within a few miles of each other; and the 
tooth marks of the one are visible on the bones of 
its victim. In the restoration, the forefeet, which 
these animals used only when fighting or tearing 
their prey and not for support, have been given 
characteristic attitudes. 

'' The Allosaurus raises its head and paw threat- 
eningly as if to keep off an intruder who wants to 
share the feast. It stands eight feet, three inches 
high, and is thirty- four feet, two inches long." 

Next they went to look at another interesting 
group, — that of two Trachodons, mounted so that 
each represents a characteristic attitude of the ani- 
mal when it was alive. The accessories consist 
of fossil plants belonging to the same period and 
suggesting the natural surroundings and food of 
the animals. Mr. Barnum Brown, who has dis- 
covered so many Dinosaurs in the West, tells us that 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 189 

this group is intended to take us back in imagination 
to the Cretaceous period, more than three miUion 
years ago, when Trachodons were among the most 
numerous of the Dinosaurs. Two members of the 
family, you see, are represented here as feeding in 
the marshes that characterised the period, when one 
is startled by the approach of a carnivorous Dino- 
saur, Tyrannosaurus, their enemy, and rises on 
tiptoe to look over the surrounding plants and de- 
termine the direction from which it is coming. The 
other Trachodon, unaware of danger, continues 
peacefully to crop the foliage. Perhaps the erect 
member of the group had already had unpleasant 
experiences with hostile beasts, for a bone of its 
left hind foot bears three sharp gashes which were 
made by the teeth of some carnivorous Dinosaur. 

" Now, perhaps," said Doodle after a pause, for 
the children's imagination, like Doodle's own, was 
touched, " perhaps we can believe in the dragons of 
the Fairy Tales and old ballads, — what do you 
think?" 

" What kind of a place was the earth. Doodle," 
asked Jack, " when these queer creatures lived on 
it?" 

"If we could turn back the pages of the great 
Earth Book," Doodle replied, " and see our globe 
as it was before the days of man, when the great 
long-necked crocodilian reptiles that we see here, 
were the chief inhabitants, we may picture a muddy, 
spongy, oozy land watered by great rivers and 
largely overspread by a vast expanse of lakes, on 
whose dreary, slimy banks gigantic reptiles reposed 
amid enormous extinct bog-plants or floated like 
logs in the fenny sunshine, or cool mists, while the 
silence of the desolate scene was broken bv the noise 



I90 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

of their monstrous jaws clamping together on some 
unfortunate fish, and by the rumbHngs and ex- 
plosions of the distant volcanoes. 

" Fearfully great lizards were these creatures that 
lived in the water and on the land and finally got 
buried in the mud. 

'* After the Age of Reptiles the Mammals came 
upon the scene. They were huge creatures, too. 
Come here now and let us look at these two magnif- 
icent specimens of early representatives of the ele- 
phant family, — a Mammoth and a Mastodon. 
The Mammoth lived on the earth side by side with 
man, by whom it was hunted and probably finally 
exterminated. In North America there were three 
species during the Glacial Period. The Siberian 
Mammoth which is found in the ice in Alaska; the 
Columbian Mammoth which inhabited the greater 
part of the United States; and the Imperial Mam- 
moth that ranged over the Southern States. The 
Imperial Mammoth before us was found in a 
swamp in Indiana eight feet below the surface. The 
tusks measure eleven and one-half feet; the length 
of the body is thirteen feet, three and one-half inches 
and the height of the body at the shoulders ten feet, 
six inches." 

" Did the Mastodon ever live in North America? " 
asked Jack. 

" Oh, yes ! The Mastodon inhabited North 
America at the same time as the Mammoth. The 
Warren Mastodon is the most complete skeleton of 
this animal that has yet been found. It was dis- 
covered near Newburgh, New York, in 1845. It 
measures nearly fifteen feet in length and nine feet 
in height; and the great curved tusks are eight and 
a half feet long." 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 191 

Doodle also showed them the remarkable skele- 
tons of the Amblypoda and the tremendous Dinoc- 
eras, which had a frame as big as an elephant, 
\\hich it somewhat resembled. It had big tusks 
and massive legs, with only four toes on each foot, 
and a short and slender tail. The head was pro- 
vided with six horns, which must have given the 
beast a hideous and terrifying appearance. 

*' The South American armadillos of the present 
day that you saw in the Zoological Park," Doodle 
continued, '' are puny representatives of their an- 
cestors of the Post Pliocene period, which are called 
Glyptodons. The armadillo rarely measures more 
than three feet in length, whereas the Glyptodon 
averages nine feet. See this fine example of one 
of these gigantic tortoise-armadillos from Argen- 
tina. And come and look at this one too, another 
extinct animal, the Toxodon, from South America. 
It was about the size of a hippopotamus." 

Doodle next showed them the very complete and 
fine exhibition representing the evolution of the 
horse under domestication, — the three-toed desert 
horse and also the skeleton of the race horse, 
Sysonby. 

The children, like everybody else who visits this 
Museum, were greatly interested in the skeleton of 
the Irish Elk. Unlike the great majority of ex- 
tinct animals which are entirely lacking in beauty, 
this is noble and imposing. In life it was the big- 
gest and most beautiful member of the deer family. 
Its grace and majesty are finely reproduced in the 
picture on the base that shows it with the Lakes of 
Killarney in the background. Though called by 
the name of the Irish Elk, Ireland was not its 
only home, however, for its remains are also found 



192 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

in Scotland, England and on the continent of 
Europe. 

When the Irish Elk lived, Doodle told them, the 
land was covered with forests in which it found 
plenty of its favourite food, — leaves, and shoots, 
adding: "The spread of its splendid antlers is 
enormous, in this instance, measuring ten feet from 
tip to tip. It must have had difficulty in threading 
the mazes of the forest when pursued by its enemies. 
The antlers are very heavy (eighty pounds) for 
such a small head ; and so the neck is unusually 
short to assist in bearing the weight, and the bones 
are bigger and stronger than those of other deer. 

'* In the days of the Irish Elk, the climate must 
have been almost tropical, for its remains are found 
in company with those of the mammoth hippopot- 
amus and rhinoceros in the caves of the great flesh- 
eating hyenas and bears.'* 

They then looked at the skeletons of the Hyaeno- 
don and pictures that show the animals of the period 
in their natural surroundings. 

Turning to the west, they entered the Mineral 
Room ; and, looking quickly at the cases of crystals 
and minerals, they particularly noted some speci- 
mens of crystallised gold from California, — per- 
fect little octahedral (eight-sided) crystals of pure 
gold held in the midst of a cluster of clear prismatic 
crystals of quartz. Some experts, indeed, consider 
this the most beautiful specimen of the kind so far 
known. 

Next Doodle pointed out a natural-sized model 
of the great CuUinan Diamond, sent as a pres- 
ent to the Museum by the Premier Transvaal Dia- 
mond Mining Company of Johannesburg, where 
the diamond, the biggest in the world, was found. 




< 

u 
O 



A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM 193 

This great diamond, which was sent as a present to 
King Edward, weighs one pound, six ounces, and is 
perfect in colour and lustre. 

Next they peeped into the Mexican archaeology 
(Room 402) where all the marvellous stone carv- 
ings and other relics are so well displayed; but the 
afternoon was rapidly drawing to a close, and so 
Doodle led them back to the Elevator. 

There was only one collection in the Fifth floor to 
attract them, for they did not care to visit the 
Library, — and this was so very fascinating that it 
seemed a pity it had been left to the very last. The 
children were charmed with the vast number of 
pretty shells here, large and small, from all parts 
of the world. Particularly famous is the Storer 
Collection, consisting of about 3,500 specimens, 
chiefly obtained from sailors and sea-captains in 
old days when handsome shells were more common 
than they are now. The great variety of shells 
of all shapes, sizes and colours; spotted and striped 
and covered with spines, surprised and fascinated 
these children, who seemed to have a fancy for 
everything that comes from the sea, and they were 
quite unwilling to leave until Doodle promised to 
bring them here another day and tell them some- 
thing about these wonders of the ocean. 



CHAPTER IX 

A VISIT TO THE METROPOLITAN 
MUSEUM 

IN WHICH THE CHILDREN SEE SOME WONDERFUL 
WORKS OF man's HAND; LEARN OF ANCIENT 
COUNTRIES AND THEIR ARTS; AND BECOME AC- 
QUAINTED WITH SOME MASTERPIECES OF ARCHI- 
TECTURE, SCULPTURE AND PAINTING. 

" We have seen so many wonderful works of 
Nature, now we are going to look at the works of 
man's hand," said Doodle, as the three were flying 
up Fifth Avenue in the stage to the Metropolitan 
Museum. *' You know that through all the ages 
and in all countries people have first made them- 
selves comfortable with regard to their homes, 
furniture and clothing; and then, as soon as they 
are comfortable, they begin to want luxurious and 
beautiful things to use, to look at and to wear. 

" Man has a great desire to have beautiful things 
around him, and he also has a great desire to 
make beautiful things. In all ages, therefore, and 
in all countries, this need has been expressed. 

" The object of a museum is, therefore, to 
gather together and preserve beautiful and interest- 
ing things that man has done in the past and that 
he is doing in the present. By means of all these 
curiosities and works of art we can see how peo- 
ple lived in past ages and in different countries; and 

194 



r 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 195 

the Metropolitan Museum, which was founded 
about thirty years ago, has grown until it is now 
one of the best museums in the world. It offers 
us a great many special collections, which, as I 
have said, show the beautiful work that people have 
accomplished in many periods of the world's his- 
tory and what kind of articles people had in their 
houses or used in their daily life. Here we may 
see furniture, pottery, porcelain, silver, enamels, 
glass, tapestries, pictures, carved ivories and beauti- 
fully illuminated books for his home ; laces and em- 
broideries and jewelry for his personal adornment; 
armour and weapons with which he fought and de- 
fended himself and his possessions, — in short, a 
host of splendid articles that are both useful and 
ornamental. 

^ " It would take us months of study and many 
visits to look at all these fine objects with the at- 
tention that they deserve — such as the delicate 
ornamentation of the handle of a silver spoon; the 
extraordinary inlay on a Japanese sword; the mini- 
ature carving of an ivory binding; the fantastic 
shape of a Venetian goblet or the intricate patterns 
of a rare piece of lace. I am afraid we shall have 
to save all these pretty objects for other visits and 
keep our minds on a few of the exhibitions only, 
— and even these that I shall select to show you are 
so large that we must single out but a few of the 
interesting objects in them." 

The children were somewhat bewildered when 
they entered the great vestibule and passed quickly 
through Rooms 7, 14, 15, 16 and 17, filled with 
bronzes, antiquities and casts of ancient sculpture, 
to the Main Hall (Room 38). Here they paused 
to get a general impression. 



196 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

The first thing they noticed was the beautiful 
model of the Parthenon, the original of which stood 
on the great hill of Athens that was called the 
Acropolis. " The Parthenon, which means the 
House of the Virgin Goddess, was dedicated to the 
goddess Athene, for whom the city of Athens was 
named. She was the wonderful goddess who 
jumped full armed from the head of her father, 
Zeus or Jupiter. She is also called Minerva, and 
is the goddess of wisdom. She always appears 
in a full suit of armour. A beautiful statue of 
Athene, all of ivory and gold, was made by the 
great sculptor, Phidias, for this temple, and was 
placed in the cella, or central room. Around the 
cella was a peristyle, having eight Doric columns 
at each end and seventeen columns on each side 
and within the peristyle ^ or outer row of columns, 
there was an inner row of six columns. You may 
count them for yourself," added Doodle, leading 
the children before the little model of the Parthenon, 
which is an exact facsimile of the original build- 
ing, one-twentieth its natural size. The children 
were surprised and delighted; and, after counting 
the columns, they peeped in and saw the statue of 
Athene in the cella. 

'' Above the columns in the back and front of 
the Parthenon," said Doodle, " you will notice the 
roof forms a kind of triangle. That is called the 
pediment. One is called the Eastern Pediment and 
the other the Western Pediment. Phidias filled 
each with beautiful statues; in fact he illustrated the 
story of the goddess Athene's birth in the one, and 
the story of how Athens was named for her in the 
other. After the marbles were sculptured, they 
were gorgeously painted and gilded. 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 197 

" The subject of the Eastern Pediment is the birth 
of Athene. You remember that one day Zeus had 
a bad headache and sent for Hephaestus, the black- 
smith of the gods, who cleft open the god's head 
and out jumped Athene, the goddess, in her full 
suit of armour brandishing her spear. 

'' Now let us look at the statues. First comes 
Hyperion, the God of Day, rising from the ocean; 
next we see the heads of the Horses of the Sun; 
then comes a youthful male figure sitting on a lion's 
skin, supposed to be Theseus ; then come two figures 
of women, supposed to be Ceres and Proserpine. 
Then comes Iris, the messenger of the gods, hur- 
rying to earth to announce the birth of Athene to 
mortals; then a Winged Victory; then three female 
figures — probably the Fates; then the Horses of 
the Moon-goddess, Selene, supposed to be plung- 
ing into the sea just as the Horses of Day are 
rising from it. Nothing in all sculpture has been 
more admired than these immortal horses. 

*' Now let us walk to the other side of the case 
and look at the Western Pediment. The Western 
Pediment is supposed to represent the contest be- 
tween Athene and Poseidon for the honour of 
naming the city of Athens, — a contest which was 
said to have occurred on the Acropolis itself. 

" Both Neptune and Athene wanted to have pos- 
session of the city, and the gods decreed that it 
should be given to the one that produced the gift 
most useful to people. Neptune struck the earth 
with his trident, and a fine horse sprang up. The 
horse was certainly useful to man, nobody could 
.dispute that. Could Athene think of anything 
better? Yes, indeed she could! So she struck the 
earth and out came an olive tree — the symbol of 



198 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

peace. The best thing, then as now, that man can 
have is peace ! So the gods gave the city to Athene, 
and it was named Athens in her honour. Now 
I am sure that you will never forget the Parthenon. 

"If we could jump on King Solomon's carpet 
of birds and fly to Athens at this moment to see 
the real Parthenon, you would not recognise it 
after looking at this restored model, which repre- 
sents it as it was in its best days; now, it is seeing 
its worst. It is nothing but a mass of ruins and 
broken columns; and all the fine statues of the 
Eastern and Western Pediments have been taken 
away. The Parthenon was built between the years 
448-442 B. C, and, strange to say, it remained 
standing entire in all but the roof for two thousand 
years ! Think of it ! Two thousand years ! In 
1687 the Venetians besieged Athens and one of 
their shells, fired from the opposite shore, nearly 
destroyed the whole building and its splendid 
sculpture; but fortunately some Englishmen and 
Frenchmen had visited the place in 1674 and 1676 
and made drawings of the sculptures and this is 
how we know so much about it, and how it was 
possible for this miniature Parthenon to be made. 

" The sculptures were removed by the Earl of 
Elgin to England in 1799- 1803; and in 18 16 they 
were purchased by the British Government. They 
are now in the Elgin room in the British Museum 
in London and are usually referred to as the ' Elgin 
Marbles.' Though mutilated and broken, they 
are perhaps the most celebrated of all ancient 
statues. Suppose we go and look at the casts of 
these statues, — shall we ? " 

The children acquiesced gladly ; and were greatly 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 199 

interested when Doodle showed them the splendid 
figures of the Eastern Pediment in Room 8. 

In this room they also saw a great statue of a 
man named Laocoon and his two sons writhing 
under the coils of two serpents. 

As the children were much mystified, Doodle ex- 
plained that this great group of Laocoon was one of 
the most famous of all statues, and that the original, 
now in the Vatican in Rome, was made in the 
Second Century B.C. — over two thousand years 
ago — and was found among the ruins of the 
Palace of Titus in Rome in 1506; and then asked 
Jack if he remembered anything about the Trojan 
War. 

" Indeed I do," answered Jack. " The Greeks and 
Trojans went to war about a beautiful lady named 
Helen—" 

*' Yes ; and Paris carried her ofT from her Greek 
husband," added Nora, " but I forget his name." 

"Yes; that is right," answered Doodle. "Now 
it was during this long siege of Troy that this 
episode occurred. Troy held out bravely and the 
Greeks found thaf they could only hope to take the 
city by a trick. So they made an immense wooden 
horse and said it was an offering for Athene; and 
then large numbers of them sailed away. But, 
in reality, the wooden horse w^as filled with soldiers. 

" The Trojans, thinking the enemy had gone, 
opened the gates of the city, and were about to take 
the strange horse into Troy when Laocoon, the 
priest, exclaimed : * Citizens ! you are mad ! Have 
you not learned enough of the Greeks and their 
treachery. I fear the Greeks even when they offer 
gifts ! ' and then he threw his lance into the horse's 



200 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

side. But the gods, who were on the side of the 
Greeks, sent two immense serpents out of the sea 
and they wound themselves around Laocdon and 
sons. The Trojans thought the gods were angry 
with Laocoon and dragged the wooden horse into 
the city; and at night out jumped the Greeks and 
set fire to Troy." 

Returning to the Main Hall, Doodle showed 
them the model of the Hypostyle Hall in the Temple 
of Karnak, which was begun in the Fifteenth Cen- 
tury B. C, and told them that 

" This was, perhaps, the largest Temple the 
Egyptians ever built. Like the Parthenon, the 
Temple of Karnak is now in ruins; but most of the 
columns are still standing though the roof they 
supported has perished. There are twelve central 
columns in this Great Hall of Karnak and a hun- 
dred and twenty-two others. In the real temple, 
six men standing in a ring could not get their 
arms around one of the shafts of these huge pillars. 
They are sculptured and painted with the figures 
of gods and kings, sacred animals and symbols 
of wisdom. You see that the capital, or head, of 
every column is carved and painted to represent a 
gigantic lotus, or water-lily. Yes; it was a superb 
temple, consisting of many other courts and rooms 
besides this magnificent hall; and there was a great 
avenue of sphinxes reaching from Luxor to Karnak 
— two miles long, with two hundred and fifty 
sphinxes on either side of the road. 

*' Suppose we now look at a famous European 
temple," added Doodle, leading the children before 
the model of Notre Dame, which is thirty feet 
long, twelve feet wide and so perfect in construction 
that not a single detail is absent. 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 201 

Doodle told them that the great cathedral of 
Paris was not only one of the most splendid 
churches of its day, but one of the most famous 
cathedrals in the world; and that this model is so 
accurate that they might imagine themselves in 
Paris standing before Notre Dame itself. 

'' It is," said Doodle, " a perfect example of 
Gothic architecture, just as the Parthenon is of 
Grecian architecture. In all Gothic cathedrals, 
the west front is the most important and receives 
the most decoration. Here we have three deep 
portals or doors lavishly decorated with sculpture 
and figures. Then comes a row of statues, above 
which is the great rose-window, as you see, in front 
of which stands a statue of the Virgin; then comes 
a row of arches, and, above this, the tower-gal- 
leries, w'here those fantastic stone monsters look 
down upon the streets of Paris. Then above rise 
the two square towers, in one of which is the great 
bell called the Bourdon de Notre Dame, w^hich 
weighs more than sixteen tons and is over two 
hundred years old." 

Taking the children around to the sides and back, 
Doodle showed them the flying buttresses and the 
apse, and told them that the interior was as 
beautiful and imposing as the outside, and that here 
many important events had taken place. Doodle 
also told them that Notre Dame stood on an island 
in the Seine called lie de la Cite and that wherever 
you go up and down the Seine the splendid build- 
ing makes a beautiful appearance. 

'* How I wish I could see it ! " exclaimed Jack. 
" L like it better than I do the Parthenon. Have 
you ever seen it. Doodle ? " 

'' I have," said Doodle, who added very myste- 



202 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

riously, " and I have walked around this platform, 
and have seen these monsters, and I have patted 
this creature on the back." 

" Oh ! I wouldn't touch him for anything," said 
Nora. 

" I would," said Jack. '' I like this bird with a 
hood on better though." 

*' I have a picture of him I will give you when 
we go home," said Doodle. 

Next they visited Rooms 30, 32, 39, 40a, 40b, 
41 and 42, in which are exhibited casts of ancient 
sculpture, Greek and Roman antiquities and vases; 
then they went into Rooms 17, 16, and 15, also de- 
voted to ancient sculpture, passed the other side of 
the stairway this time (Room 13) ; and then 
came to the Egyptian section (Rooms 6, 5, 4, and 

3)- 

First Doodle showed them the reproduction of 

the famous Rosetta Stone, telling them that the 
original, now in the British Museum — a slab of 
black basalt — was found in 1799 by a French 
army officer, near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, 
— whence its name. 

" It is the most valuable relic of Egyptian history 
that the world possesses," said Doodle. " The 
great value of this stone is this: the same inscrip- 
tion occurs in three languages. One of these was 
Greek and another Egyptian hieroglyphics, like 
those signs we saw on the Obelisk that stands out- 
side of our Museum. Here was a key to the puzzle 
language of the Egyptians. On the Rosetta Stone 
the history is written of King Ptolemy V., who 
set up the stone about 196 B. C., and the principal 
events of his reign; so you see how valuable this 
Rosetta Stone is. 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 203 

" Scholars can now read all the inscriptions on 
obelisks and mummy-cases, vases and tombs; and, 
therefore, we know a great deal about the people 
of ancient Egypt and their manners and customs. 

'' Egypt is one long valley surrounded by sandy 
deserts through which flows the river Nile and 
hemmed in by mountains. As the Nile overflows 
its banks every year, the Egyptians would not bury 
their friends, or sacred animals, where the floods 
would be likely to reach them. So they embalmed 
the bodies and placed them in the mountain caverns, 
or in great tombs that they specially erected. 
Palaces, temples, and tombs have been dug out from 
the sands within the past hundred years, and great 
treasures brought to light. Probably the most 
wonderful group of ruins in the world are at 
Thebes, with its palaces, temples, statues, obelisks 
and sphinxes. 

" Not far away from Thebes is the Temple of 
Karnak which you have just seen. 

" Now we will go and see what the people them- 
selves looked like," said Doodle, and then showed 
them the portrait busts (casts) of various Kings 
and Queens including that of the great warrior, 
Rameses II., who reigned sixty-six years (B. C. 
1 565-1499), explaining that the peculiar headdress 
called pschent, was the symbol of dominion over 
the upper and lower world, and that the uraeus, or 
symbol of royalty on the headdress, is the cobra, 
or asp, which seems to threaten all enemies. 

'* Yes ;" said Nora turning to Jack, " we saw the 
real cobra in the Reptile House in the Zoological 
Park, — don't you remember?" 

After having looked at the statues they then 
peeped into some of the cases, containing objects 



204 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

connected with daily life, toilet articles, spoons, 
mirrors, ladles, pins, needles, vases for pomades, 
bracelets, brooches, earrings, necklaces, and beads, 
charms and amulets in the shape of birds, insects, 
reptiles and animals that Doodle told them had 
been found in the real tombs of the Egyptians. 
Doodle also told them that the favourite amulet or 
charm, was the one in the shape of a beetle called 
Scarab, used to protect both the living and the dead ; 
and that these scarabs were inscribed with all kinds 
of names and signs known sometimes only to the 
owner himself. Another curious amulet that 
Doodle showed them was an Eye, — emblem of 
the Sun-god Ra. 

" All the figures with heads of animals and birds 
are images of the gods and goddesses worshipped 
by the Egyptians," added Doodle, *' for instance, 
this one with the jackal head is Anubis; this cat- 
headed goddess is Bast; this ape-headed god, Hapi; 
this ram-headed man Chnum; this goddess with 
the head and horns of a cow with a disk between 
the horns is Hathor ; this hawk-headed god, Horus ; 
this vulture with outspread wings is Mut, the 
mother of all things; this crocodile-headed god is 
Sebek; this lion-headed goddess Sechet; and this 
ibis is Thoth. 

" A little while ago I told you," said Doodle, 
" that the Egyptians built great tombs to protect 
their dead from the overflowing of the Nile. Did 
I tell you that they embalmed the dead bodies and 
wrapped them in linen bandages with all kinds of 
spices and perfumes that would preserve them for 
ages? Then they placed them in caskets, or cases 
painted all over with little brightly coloured pictures 
of the gods and sacred animals and events in the 




C3 






METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 205 

life of the person who Hes within? No? Well, 
they did ; and many mummies have been found that 
are the shells so to speak of persons that lived — 
not hundreds — mind you — but thousands of years 
ago. Shall we look at a few^? 

" This one is the mummy of a warrior who lived, 
died, and was buried more than three thousand 
years ago ! The cover of the mummy case is carved 
wood ; the face and hands are tinted yellow, the 
iiair is green with yellow stripes, and the big neck- 
lace of green, yellow, salmon, pink and blue. There 
is a red band around his neck and a w^inged disk 
over his lips and at the end of each wing is a Ba- 
bird (that is a representation of the soul of the 
dead person) in adoration before the cartouche 
(the monogram) of King Amenhotep I. Across 
the knees is a winged deity, — probably Nut with 
Horus and Isis on the left and Horus and Neph- 
thys on the right between the wings and Osiris is 
lower down receiving adoration. The mummy 
case proper is decorated with scenes representing 
the figure of the deceased, various gods — Osiris 
receiving the adoration of the Ba-bird and other 
gods. The figure of the deceased is shown to be 
offering prayers and making offerings to the gods. 
Amulets and the symbolic eye of the Ra the truth 
feather, and the uraeus appear frequently. 

" Here is the Mummy of the Lady of the House, 
Shep, dating from 1200 or iioo B. C. 

" The mummy is in her original wrappings and 
bandages. Her hair is white with green stripes on 
the sides, her face is pink, and she also has on a neck- 
lace. On top of her head is a large disk and on 
her forehead a winged disk, the wings of which 
extend down the sides of her face. The Lady 



2o6 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

of the House Shep is surrounded by various deities 
and at the foot He two figures of Anubis as jackal. 

" Can you reahse that you are looking at a rich 
and beautiful lady who lived thousands of years 
ago?" 

After having seen all they wanted here, the three 
crossed over the hall to Rooms ii and 12 and 
thence into No. 9, looking at the casts of ancient 
sculpture with which these rooms are filled. 
Doodle explained how originals had been found 
from time to time in far away islands and among 
ruins of palaces, temples and baths, in Greece and 
Rome, and taken to various galleries of Europe; 
and that these casts were exactly like the originals. 

They saw statues of all the great gods and god- 
desses — Jupiter and Juno, Apollo and Diana, 
Minerva and Venus; great heroes of myth and 
legend; Victories rushing through the air with out- 
spread wings; Niobe protecting her last surviving 
child from the arrows of Apollo and Diana; the 
sleeping Ariadne, deserted by Theseus, who is go- 
ing to awake and become the bride of Bacchus; 
and athletes throwing the quoit, scraping them- 
selves after exercise, binding their heads with a 
fillet, or crowning themselves after the Olympic 
games in which they had won victories. 

Doodle pointed out the most celebrated pieces as 
they wandered about, and promised to tell Jack 
and Nora the stories of each one at some future 
time. 

They did not linger in Room 7 in which the 
bronzes are preserved, but passed on to the stair- 
case. " Now we will go up-stairs," said Doodle, 
" and see the pictures. 

" Do you not think it wonderful that a person 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 207 

with a brush, a few paints and a piece of canvas, 
can, by making a few Hnes and dabbing on some 
colours, represent on a flat surface, objects and 
scenes that give pleasure to the spectator? With 
form and colour, light and shade, the painter depicts 
for us a person, a bird, an animal, a house, a church, 
a little piece of the country, a little bit of the sea, 
a vase of flowers or a basket of fruits; or he tells 
us a little story, or describes in paint a little scene. 

'' Painting is a very old art. We have just seen 
some of the Egyptian paintings on the mummy- 
cases down stairs, and we saw the bright colours on 
the columns in the little model of the Temple of 
Karnak. Now the Greeks, who come next in 
civilisation to the Egyptians, used to paint real 
pictures to hang up in the temples and homes ; and 
they also painted pictures on the walls of their 
houses. Indeed the Greeks were almost as famous 
for their painting as they were for their sculpture. 

*' A story is told of two Greek painters, each of 
whom boasted that he could paint better than the 
other. One of the painters tried to brush a fly off 
his rival's picture and was amazed to find that the 
fly was a painted one. Then the man who had 
painted the life-like fly said to the other: * Sup- 
pose you raise the curtain and let me see your 
picture ? ' But this the artist could not do, be- 
cause he had painted a curtain ! So you may im- 
agine that the Greeks could imitate pretty well, 
if the painters could deceive each other. 

'' Painting, as we know it, dates from about the 
Thirteenth Century; and what we know to-day 
comes from the Greeks of Constantinople. When 
Constantinople was conquered in 1204, many Greek 
artists went to Italy; and the Italians copied their 



2oS THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

■pictures and their ways of painting. So the early 
Italians all paint in the Byzantine, or Greek, style. 
So did the German and other European artists. At 
this period, Siena was a great place for painters, 
and the early Sienese School and the Florentine 
School are both famous : each one claims to be the 
older. They are, however, about the same age. 
The early European artists, who are to-day called 
^ Primitives ' painted chiefly altar-pieces for their 
churches; and naturally their favourite subject was 
the Madonna with the Infant Jesus. Sometimes 
they painted saints standing at the side of the 
Madonna's throne, or chair ; sometimes angels ; and, 
very often, the man who gave the picture (the 
donor) kneeling in prayer. Occasionally, too, they 
painted the Nativity of Christ, or the Adoration 
of the Three Kings; but their favourite subject was 
the Madonna. 

" I don't believe that either of you understand 
them or care for these queer old pictures ; the peo- 
ple are so lanky and flat, and they have such long 
thin hands and feet and such peculiar faces. Some- 
times, however, the Madonna has a lovely expres- 
sion, if you study her. The Sienese painters usually 
dressed her in robes of the richest brocade, and 
placed the throne, or chair, in which she sits, against 
a background of real gold. The halo around her 
head, or the crown that holds her veil in place, is 
real gold, and gold is used to touch up certain 
parts of the picture. Would you like to see some 
of these queer old pictures? " 

" I certainly should," replied Jack. 

" I, too," Nora added. 

" Then come here. This one is by Simone 
Memmi of the Sienese School and represents St. 




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METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 209 

Paul. It was painted five hundred years ago! 
Here is part of an altar-piece, by Giovanni di 
Paolo, also of Siena. St. Francis is standing on the 
right beneath a Gothic framework and St. Mat- 
thew, on the left, both standing against a gold 
background. The Virgin and Child that are ac- 
companied by St. Joseph and St. Peter is by Pietro 
di Domenico and the Madonna and Child that you 
are looking at so intently, Nora, is by Sano di 
Pietro. All these are splendid examples of the 
Sienese School." 

" What is a School, Doodle? " 

" I am glad you asked me," Doodle answered. 
" I should have thought to tell you that a School 
means a group of men who painted in the same 
style — that is to say, the same general style, or 
were followers and imitators of a special master. 
Now, having seen the Sienese, here is a Florentine 
picture of the early Fifteenth Century, by Lorenzo 
Monaco; and this other Madonna and Child is by 
Bartolommeo Montagna of the School of Vicenza." 

" What is this picture? " Jack asked, stopping be- 
fore Pollaiuolo's St. Christopher. 

" St. Christopher was one of the saints that the 
Primitives were particularly fond of painting. 
Do you know the story? He was a giant about 
twelve feet high (twice as tall as a very tall man), 
and he was enormously big and strong besides; 
and he was so proud of his strength and size that 
he would only serve the mightiest princes. He 
wasn't a saint in those days, you know ; he was only 
an ordinary giant. At last he went into the service 
of the Devil. One day he and the Devil were 
walking through the woods and they came across 
an image of Christ. The Devil was so frightened 



2IO THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

that the Giant lost confidence in him and deter- 
mined to find out the Saviour (who was evidently 
greater than the Devil) and to serve him when he 
found him. While wandering about he came 
across an old Christian hermit, who told him all 
about Christ and christened him; and he had to do 
penance by carrying Christian pilgrims over a 
stream that had no bridge. One day a little child 
came to the stream and St. Christopher took him 
on his shoulders; but soon he began to sink under 
the terrible weight. The child was the Infant 
Christ himself; and to prove it he told St. Chris- 
topher to stick his stafif intO' the ground. He did 
this ; and the next morning, lo ! the staff had become 
a palm-tree ! 

" Now let us look at the picture. St. Christopher 
has a halo around his head and a palm-tipped staff 
in his right hand. The Child holds the globe in 
His left hand and His right arm, you see, is around 
the saint's neck. They are in the middle of the 
stream, for you see the shores on either side, and 
above is blue sky. This picture was painted by an 
Italian with a very peculiar name to our ears, 
Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Polly wallow is the near- 
est we can say) ; and he and his brother were gold- 
smiths of Florence in the Fifteenth Century. 
Afterwards they became painters; and their 
masterpieces now scattered in the great galleries 
of Europe are very highly valued to-day. 

" We haven't time to talk about the various 
schools of painting and all the great Italian artists ; 
nor of painting and painters in other countries — 
Dutch, Flemish, German, French, Spanish and 
English painting; for we have come here to look 
at pictures and not to talk about them; but I can 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 211 

tell you one thing, — and that is that in this Mu- 
seum very nearly all schools and styles of painting 
are represented ; and there are examples from nearly 
every one of the great Masters of the past and 
present. 

" We are going to run through the rooms quickly 
and look at a few striking pictures. 

" Before we leave this room, however, we will 
glance at this Portrait of Thomas a Becket, by Jan 
van Eyck, who, with his brother, Hubert van 
Eyck, invented or improved the method of paint- 
ing with oil. This, however, is not all that dis- 
tinguished him. Jan van Eyck was a wonderful 
painter of life-like portraits and very decorative 
altar-pieces. He was greatly appreciated in his 
day, and had many pupils. Whenever you see a 
picture by Jan van Eyck, you should look at it 
carefully. 

" H people had not learned how to paint por- 
traits," Doodle continued, as they entered Room 
12, " and how to get a good likeness of their 
sitters, we should not know what famous people 
looked like in the days before photographs were 
known. Almost all the great artists were splendid 
portrait painters and tried to represent the people 
who sat to them exactly as they were. Some of 
our early American artists were very fine portrait- 
painters, too, and their works are very highly 
valued to-day. One of these is Gilbert Stuart, who 
was a native of Rhode Island, and was educated 
in Scotland and England. He painted the por- 
traits of many distinguished persons abroad — 
among them three Kings — Louis XVL of France, 
George HL and the Prince of Wales (afterwards 
George IV.). He also painted Sir Joshua Rey- 



212 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

nolds and Benjamin West; and, when he came 
home, he painted the portraits of six Presidents 
of the United States, — George Washington, John 
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James 
Monroe and John Quincy Adams. 

" This gallery is fortunate in owning among 
others by him, two of George Washington. The 
one painted in 1803 is the more famous. It is 
very simple in style; and that is one reason that 
it is so much admired. The dark grey eyes look 
calmly and steadily in front and the face is 
strongly lighted from the left. The powdered 
hair and bright colour of the complexion stand 
out well from the olive background. You see how 
severe is the costume — a black coat and a white 
lace ruff and necktie. 

*' It is appropriate that we next look at Washing- 
ton Crossing the Delaware'' said Doodle, entering 
Room 13. " This is by a painter of the American 
School, Emanuel Leutze, painted in 1851. Though 
not particularly remarkable as a work of art, it 
depicts a noted historical event with so much dra- 
matic force that it has become quite famous. You 
have seen it reproduced in books and magazines 
many times. I suppose you remember the story, — 
how General Washington, having determined to 
surprise the British at Trenton, took twenty-four 
thousand men and twenty pieces of artillery across 
the Delaware river, which was full of snow and 
ice, the night of Dec. 25, 1776." 

" Christmas night ! " exclaimed Nora. 

" Yes, Christmas night," answered Doodle ; 
" and the river was so packed with floating ice and 
the night was so dark and stormy that they doubted 
if they could cross it. They started early in the 




TH6 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 
SECOND FLOOR 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 213 

evening; and it was nearly four o'clock in the morn- 
ing before everybody was safely landed. 

" We will not stop in this gallery (Room 14) 
because it is devoted to modern American paint- 
ings, chiefly landscapes, for which you will prob- 
ably care very little. As we pass, however, look 
at George de Forest Brush's In the Garden. Here 
you see a tired mother with a baby in her arms 
and another child clinging to her arm. There are 
a few dull red flowers in the grass and the baby's 
dull red stockings are noticeable against the green. 
This is a very modern work, — and very different 
from Washington Crossing the Delaware, isn't it ? " 

Quickly walking from Room 15, where many 
pictures of the Dutch school hang, into Room 16, 
Doodle took them to look at Fortuny's Arab Farp- 
tasia at Tangiers, telling them that the Spaniard 
Fortuny, one of the greatest of modern painters, 
began life as a poor boy, whose great talents soon 
made him famous. He painted portraits and Span- 
ish scenes very splendidly and loved the more 
picturesque Arabs. " Whether this is a religious 
festival, or a noisy sport, — a sort of Fourth of 
July celebration — frantic action and noise could 
hardly be better expressed than in this spirited and 
beautifully finished picture, that was painted in 
1866. 

'* There is a great deal of noise in this picture, 
too," added Doodle, as they stopped to look at 
Le Boitrget , by De Neuville (No. 61), which 
represents a scene during the Franco-Prussian War, 
when the town of Le Bourget had fallen a second 
time into the hands of the enemy. In the village 
church, however,, eight French officers and about 
twenty men still resisted, and the enemy had to 



214 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

fire through the windows before the little band of 
heroes would surrender. 

After this, Doodle showed them Millet's famous 
Sower (No. 79), and as they looked wonderingly 
at the figure of the labourer, read them Gautier's 
description : 

" * The night is coming, spreading its grey wings 
over the earth; the sower marches with a rhythmic 
step, flinging the grain in the furrow ; he is followed 
by a cloud of pecking birds ; he is covered with dark 
rags, his head by a curious cap. He is bony, 
swart, meagre under this livery of poverty, yet it 
is life which his large hands shed; he who has 
nothing pours upon the earth, with a superb gesture, 
the bread of the future. On the other side of the 
slope a last ray of the sun shows a pair of oxen 
at the end of their furrow, strong and gentle com- 
panions of man, whose recompense will one day be 
the slaughter-house. This is the only light of the 
picture, which is bathed in shadow, and presents 
to the eye, under a cloudy sky, nothing but newly 
ploughed earth.' 

" Millet was very fond of representing the peas- 
ants," Doodle continued, " and generally showed 
them at their work, — men and women ploughing, 
sewing, reaping, stopping to take noon-day rest, 
or pausing to murmur a prayer at the close of day. 
Here is another painter who sees the beauty and the 
pathos of lowly life — the Dutch painter Israels. 
Come here now and look at the Frugal Meal (No. 
48). In all of Israels's pictures — and he has 
painted a great many, for he is a very old man 
now — he always shows us the true feelings of 
the people he paints. 

" How do you like this picture ? " Doodle asked. 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 215 

as they entered Room 17 and paused before 
Couture's Day Dreams, also called The Idle Stu- 
dent. 

'' Very much," said Jack. " I love to blow soap 
bubbles myself and watch the pretty colours turning 
round and round. Those look like real bubbles." 

The children liked the graceful boy dressed in 
black velvet with a somewhat limp white collar, 
who leans back in his chair with one hand on the 
heel of his shoe and in the other the straw, by 
means of which he has blown the two bubbles that 
he watches so dreamily. Doodle called attention 
to his books and papers on the table, also the boy's 
spinning-top and the glass of soap suds, adding: 
*' Perhaps the boy is not as idle as he looks — I 
think the painter means to tell us that he is a 
dreamer and a thinker; and, perhaps, an artist; and 
that the laurel WTcath of success will crown him one 
day. See! there it is above his head; but he does 
not see it." 

From this picture, they went to look at Gabriel 
Max's Last Token. 

" This picture tells us a story," said Doodle. 
" The pretty young woman in a white dress with 
the black mantle wrapt around her head and 
shoulders is a Christian martyr. There she stands 
in the arena condemned to death. The heartless 
people have gathered to see her devoured by the 
wild beasts. Of course, she is pale, for she knows 
that fierce leopard creeping through the wall beneath 
the raised iron grating at her left and the hyena 
and other leopard rolling about on her left will 
soon be crushing her bones. Poor thing! We 
can't see the spectators, but somebody has thrown 
her a rose. See it, — at her feet ? She has seen 



2i6 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

it, and looks up to see the person who threw her 
The Last Token. Do you think it came from the 
hand of a relative, or a friend, or a lover, or a 
stranger whose heart was touched with pity? 
The artist has made a fine contrast between the 
gentleness of the girl and the ferocity of the wild 
beasts." 

" Doodle," said Jack suddenly, " do you know 
that Rajah is dead ? These animals reminded me ! " 

"No! What Rajah?" 

" Rajah in the Zoological Park," replied Jack. 

"Yes;" said Nora. "Handsome, cross old 
Rajah. We saw it in the paper this morning. 
Yes; he choked himself to death." 

Now entering Room i8, also devoted to modern 
paintings, they first stopped in front of Rosa 
Bonheur's Weaning the Calves (No. 449). " See 
how vmhappy the mother cow looks," said Doodle, 
" as she stands by the bars that separate her from 
the calf? The poor calf, too, looks up pleading 
for an explanation. Four other calves are awaiting 
their mothers who are coming slowly down the hill 
towards their pen. Notice how finely the snowy 
streaked mountains rise into the clear blue sky be- 
yond the hills. 

" Rosa Bonheur was one of the greatest of all 
woman painters. Her specialty was animals. She 
was French, born in Bordeaux in 1822. She began 
to draw when she was only four years old, and at- 
tained great fame at an early age. Medals and 
honours were showered upon her and she was so 
highly thought of that during the Franco-Prussian 
War the Crown Prince of Prussia issued orders 
that her studio and residence near the Forest of 
Fontainebleau should be specially protected. Peo- 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 217 

pie in this country were so enthusiastic about her, 
that she was offered a house if she would come to 
New York to live. We shall see her most famous 
picture, the Horse Fair, presently." 

By way of contrast, they looked at Gerome's 
Prayer in a Mosque; and Doodle explained it as 
follows : 

" The Mosque is in Old Cairo — just the sort of 
a place you read of in the Arabian Nights; and these 
people who are praying there in such splendid cos- 
tumes are real Arabian Nights' people. Some of 
them are standing in a line under the old Moorish 
arches ; and on the right are three gorgeously 
dressed Mussulmans. Just look at their silks and 
velvets and the lovely colours of their costumes ! 
Look, too, at the pigeons on the floor of the 
Mosque ! " 

Passing to another canvas in the the same gallery, 
Doodle asked : 

"You know this picture, — don't you? It is 
called The Storm (No. 476), and is by P. A. Cot. 
A young boy and girl are running to escape the ap- 
proaching storm. Notice how black the clouds are 
and how the lightning is flashing. The wind is 
blowing out the yellow silk scarf they are holding 
above their heads. The girl looks scared, but the 
boy looks pleased to be taking care of her. As the 
landscape is tropical, I think the country must be 
the Island of Martinique and the boy and girl, 
Paul and Virginia of Bernardin de St. Pierre's 
story." 

Passing into another room, " I myself love the 
early French painters," said Doodle, *' and one of 
my favourites is Greuze. This one by him, called 
Voliipte, you see, is only the bust of a young girl 



2i8 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

with blue eyes and light hair and thin white dra- 
pery about her shoulders; but look at those liquid 
eyes and that dewy mouth! Isn't it wonderful to 
get all that expression and life with a few strokes 
of the brush? How did Greuze make those eyes 
swim in their own light and how did he paint that 
drapery ? 

" I think you will like this portrait of the 
Princesse de Condi, by Nattier, another French 
artist. This picture once belonged to Marie An- 
toinette. Just think of it. When this picture was 
painted in 1756 the court ladies had a great fancy 
for dressing themselves up as mythological god- 
desses and having their portraits painted as Juno, 
or Ceres, or Diana. The Princess de Conde is 
pretending that she is Diana. How beautifully the 
leopard-skin is thrown over her white dress! 
Hasn't she fine eyes? 

" This lady," continued Doodle, pausing before 
Largillierre's Marie de Thorigny, " was called in her 
own time ' as beautiful as the day.' " 

" Oh, I think that is a lovely picture ! " cried 
Nora, looking admiringly at the lady standing by 
a fountain and allowing the water to trickle over 
her right hand, while with her left she holds her 
handsome red robe. 

*' Oh, look at the parrot beside her cracking a 
nut!" exclaimed Jack. 

" And the little negro boy with a little dog in 
his arms," added Nora. " What is he doing there, 
Doodle?" 

'' He is a page. In the Seventeenth Century it 
was very fashionable for rich ladies to have little 
negro boys to attend them, and they dressed them 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 219 

up in fantastic costumes. You will often see them 
in portraits and pictures of the day. They used to 
have for pets parrots and monkeys and negro boys 
and spaniels." 

Next they looked at Boucher's Rescue of Arion 
from the Waves, and Doodle told them that 
" Arion, the Greek poet, was going home from 
a musical contest in Sicily, where he had won the 
prize, and was thrown into the sea by the jealous 
sailors ; but he was not harmed in the least, because 
the dolphins, which had gathered around the ship, 
saved him. Boucher, the charming painter of 
lovely mythological scenes, whose colours are so 
bright and soft that they look as if he had dipped 
his brush into dewy flowers instead of paint, shows 
Arion on the back of a dolphin unconcernedly 
playing the lyre, while the gods, nymphs and dol- 
phins, enchanted by his music, have come to hear 
him. On the left, you see the ship is sinking in 
a storm; but beyond the heavy clouds there is the 
bright blue sky. How lovely is the colour of the 
red drapery around Arion." 

Room 20, devoted to the English School, did 
not particularly interest the children, for it con- 
tains chiefly portraits and landscapes. They were 
attracted, however, by the little girl standing in the 
woods near a pool of water with a cat for her 
companion ; — a picture once attributed to Gains- 
borough and now to Gainsborough Dupont. 
They liked still better Henry Morland's Miss 
Rich Building a House of Cards, supposed until 
recently by Hogarth. Noticing how much they 
enjoyed making the acquaintance of this little girl, 
Doodle said: 



220 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Little Miss Rich is about your age, Nora. 
How would you like to have a white dress and a 
white cap like hers ? " 

" I don't think I should like it very much/' said 
Nora, " but I like it on her." 

" I have never been able to get cards up as far 
as that," said Jack, much interested in Miss Rich's 
achievement. 

The children did not know why they liked it so 
much; but the charm of the picture lies in the 
natural pose of the little girl and the delicate colour- 
ing. 

They also enjoyed Landseer's dogs — Alexander 
and Diogenes, for the dogs struck them as being 
so natural. 

" Oh, isn't that Napoleon ? " asked Jack as he 
caught sight of Haydon's picture in which the hero 
stands statue-like on a cliff with his arms folded 
across his breast and looking intently on the sun 
that is setting upon the ocean. 

" Yes, it is. And he has on the uniform he 
wore at the Battle of Waterloo. He is now at St. 
Helena, thinking very mournful thoughts in his 
island prison." 

This, however, not being important enough to 
dwell upon, Doodle called their attention to the 
most celebrated picture in this Room — Turner's 
Whale Ship. Neither Jack nor Nora could make 
anything out of it. 

" Look again. Suppose we try and see what 
is really in the picture," said Doodle, continuing: 
" We see a white ghost-like ship with all her sails 
spread, coming through the misty atmosphere. 
Right here in the foreground a big whale has been 
harpooned and is spouting bloody water from his 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 221 

wounds. See; he has upset with his lashing tail 
one of the four boats that are after him. But this 
is not all by any means. The beauty and grandeur 
of the picture is its brilliancy of light in the sky 
and in the water, the movement and immensity of 
the waves, the rush of the coming boat, and the 
action of the monster as he splashes and spouts in 
the sea. 

" Now let us go back into the Vanderbilt Gal- 
lery and look at Turner's Grand Canal Venice, 
(No. 165). Everything is plain here^ We seem 
to be standing at the entrance to the Grand Canal: 
the church of Santa Maria della Salute and the 
Dogana Vecchia are on the right; and a long row 
of buildings extending to the Doge's Palace and the 
Campanile are on the left. Gondolas, barges and 
fishing-boats are seen in the broad light of a sunny 
day and are clearly reflected in the water. How 
beautiful and how fantastic is the lovely city of 
Venice, which seems to melt into the clouds that 
float in the blue sky! No wonder this city was 
called the ' Queen of the Adriatic' Now let us 
go back again to the Whale Ship. You see it still 
seems to be a chaos until we look at it closely; 
but after we accustom our eyes to it and appreciate 
the richness and glow of its colours, all the other 
pictures around it seem dull and cold." 

Passing into Room 21, devoted to pictures of 
the French School, Doodle took the children first 
to see the most celebrated picture in this group — 
Meissonnier's Friedland iSoy. Of course, they 
wanted to know what the name meant. Doodle, 
therefore, explained that it was one of Napoleon's 
great battles in the year 1807, and then went on to 
say that '' Friedland 180'j is the largest canvas Meis- 



222 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

sonnier ever painted; but it is just as full of detailed 
finish for which this painter was noted as his small 
paintings. Meissonnier said of this picture that he 
did not paint a battle scene. What he wanted to 
do was to paint Napoleon at the height of his 
power and to represent the adoration and love the 
soldiers had for their great Captain. So, there 
he is on that little mound, mounted on his famous 
white horse, surrounded by his generals and aides. 
The cuirassiers are on their way to the battle and 
are charging through a wheat field, every soldier 
rising in his stirrups and crying ' Vive V Emper- 
eur! ' See how their swords gleam in the sunlight, 
and how the sunlight shines on the helmets and 
armour and the splendidly groomed horses. Look 
at the bugler on the extreme right. He is one 
of the most admired figures in the picture. On - 
they dash, sure of victory, over the wheat field that | 
will never ripen. Napoleon salutes them as they 
pass. Light clouds float in the blue sky above the | 
raging battle that we do not see ; but to which these ' 
troops are hurrying. Friedland was painted in 

1875." 

Then, leading them to the neighbouring Defence 
of Champigny, another, but very different battle 
scene, painted by Detaille, Meissonnier's favourite 
pupil, in 1879, three years after Friedland, Doodle 
told them that many critics consider the Defence of 
Champigny every bit as great a picture as Fried- 
land; and that it represents an episode in the 
Franco-Prussian War. Opening the catalogue 
Doodle read them Detaille's own description of his 
picture : 

" ' It is the moment when the division of Gen- 
eral Faron after having taken Champigny situated 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 223 

aix)ve the Marne, fortified itself in the village and 
defended, foot by foot, the house and enclosures 
against the return attack of the Saxony and Wur- 
temberg divisions in the battle of 2nd December, 
1870. The chateau which I have shown is one of 
those which are found at the fork of the two roads 
at Chennevieres — a place well known to those Prus- 
sians who took part in the scenes of the siege of 
Paris. The officer shown in the centre of the 
picture is General Faron, who was appointed Gen- 
eral of Division on the field of battle. The foot 
soldiers belong to the 113th Regiment of the Line, 
who lost a great number in the three days' fight. 
The sappers, who are making the embrasures in 
the wall to allow the sharpshooters to fire under 
protection, and are barricading the opening with all 
kinds of material; the artillerists, who are placing 
the battery guns in position; all likewise were un- 
der the orders of General Faron, who at this time 
commanded the right wing of the French army.' " 

" I don't like fighting," said Nora, " and so I 
don't like those pictures at all, I don't like either 
one of them/' 

" I like the man blowing the bugle on horseback 
in Friedland/' said Jack. " I like them both." 

" Then let us look at something you will both 
like better," said Doodle, '' oh, here is the Horse 
Fair! Rosa Bonheur painted this splendid work 
in 1852. It was exhibited in several French cities. 
At last it was brought to this country. 

*' Yes; the horses are life-size and they are being 
led by their grooms past the judges. They are 
perfectly conscious that they are on exhibition." 

" That certainly is a fine picture," was Jack's 
comment. 



224 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" I think so, too," Nora acquiesced. 

'' Do you remember the story I told you the 
other day about Joan of Arc, or, as the French call 
her, Jeanne d' Arc? " 

" Oh yes," replied Nora, " the young girl called 
the Maid of Orleans, who became a soldier and 
saved France and who was burned by the English? " 

'' You can imagine the many pictures that have 
been painted of her; but most of them show her 
as a soldier mounted perhaps on her horse and in 
full armour. Here is a very unusual one rep- 
resenting the strange French girl merely as a sim- 
ple peasant standing in the garden of her rustic 
cottage. It is by Bastien-Lepage (No. 550). You 
see the artist has painted her in her homely dress 
and as a rude peasant without beauty or grace, but 
see what a peculiar stare she has in her eyes. They 
gaze fixedly upon the vision she sees and which 
appears to us by reflection in the shrubbery behind 
her. Another thing remarkable in this celebrated 
work is the beautiful effect of the light that is dif- 
fused over the whole scene; and we may even say 
that the air seems to circulate freely behind the 
trees." 

" Well, I don't see how in the world they can 
paint light and air," said Jack. " Could you do 
it. Doodle?" 

" Indeed, I could not," replied the latter, " but 
I think it is very beautiful when it is accomplished 
— don't you ? Now come over here and let us 
look at the light and air in this picture. Let us 
stand here a moment and get our eyes used to it. 
It is called The Balloon, and is by Jules Dupre. 
These French peasants were working in this green 
field of new-mown hay; they suddenly see a bal- 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUJNI 225 

loon — there it is sailing in the clouds ! See ? 
They are perfectly astonished. All the figures are 
splendidly drawn and beautifully painted and the 
sunlight is exquisite. See how it touches the 
woman's brawny arm?" 

'' If I had painted that picture," said Jack, "I 
should never have painted a balloon. I should have 
had an air-ship." 

" When the artist painted that," replied Doodle, 
" in 1886, about twenty-five years ago, air-ships 
were not thought of seriously. But talking of 
light — here is a painter of light — Monet; and 
let us look at Poppy-Held. With this painter, we 
are just about as far from the Primitives as we 
can get; and I think with this picture we will take 
leave of this room." 

Gallery 24 claimed a longer visit than the other 
rooms because here are hung many of the most val- 
uable works owned by the Museum. First they 
looked at the Portrait of a Florentine Lady of the 
Fifteenth Century, dressed in a rich gown, with a 
wreath on her flowing golden hair, and holding a 
salver of fruit in her hands. 

Seeing that Jack and Nora were interested, Doo- 
dle told them that this was thought to have been 
painted by Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest painter 
of the Fifteenth Century, whose Mona Lisa in the 
Louvre is the most famous portrait in the whole 
world. 

Next they stopped before one of the most beau- 
tiful portraits in the gallery, by Van Dyck, which 
represents James Stuart, Duke of Richmond and 
Lenox standing in a graceful position with one hand 
on his hip and the other resting on the head of a 
large greyhound that looks up into his face. The 



226 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

young Duke has light curHng hair that falls over his J 
lace collar beneath which is a broad blue ribbon 1 
from which a gold locket is hung. His costume is 
a rich figured black silk with the Order of Saint 
Esprit on the left shoulder. His stockings are 
white, and large rosettes ornament his dark shoes. 
Doodle told them that Van Dyck was one of the 
greatest Flemish painters, and that he was a pupil 
of Rubens ; and that after travelling in Italy, he be- . 
came a marvellous painter of portraits, w^ent to \ 
England and was appointed court-painter to 
Charles L, who knighted him. 

After enjoying this canvas, Doodle showed them 
a curious picture of the Madonna standing in a 
Gothic church with the Child in her arms and angel- 
musicians at her side instead of saints, and told 
them that this was supposed to be the Cathedral 
of Salamanca; that this quaint picture was in 
Spain for hundreds of years; and that it was a 
work of the early Flemish School by Jacques Daret 
(called Maitre de Flemalle) ; that the Flemish paint- 
ers loved to represent the Virgin standing under 
the arches and columns of the beautiful Gothic 
churches and cathedrals; and that they loved also 
to represent angels playing upon musical instru- 
ments of all kinds, or singing. 

'' This is a ' Primitive,' " Doodle added, " but it 
is so valuable that it is hung among the gems of 
the collection." 

By way of contrast, Doodle next pointed out the 
beautiful Madonna and Child by Giovanni Bellini 
and explained that this master was one of the ; 
greatest of Italian painters; and that his Madonnas ; 
have beautiful oval faces with serene tender ex- i 
pressions; always wear a blue hooded mantle; and 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 22^ 

have long necks and long and large hands of a 
rather peculiar shape. The little Jesus that she 
holds so lovingly is always a pretty and attractive 
baby, with a face of intelligence and sweetness. 
With these hints they would always know a Gio- 
vanni Bellini. Next, they looked at a picture by 
the great Spanish painter, Murillo, of St. John the 
Evangelist, which amused the children very much. 
They did not care about the saint seated on a rock 
with a book in his left hand and a pen in his out- 
stretched hand; but the eagle with the ink-bottle 
in his beak they heartily enjoyed. 

Doodle then showed them some of the works of 
the Dutch painters, telling them that they loved to 
paint details and scenes of every day life — ladies 
taking music-lessons, women working in the kitchen, 
men smoking and drinking and eating and laugh- 
ing, and children at play. They usually painted 
on small panels, or canvases, and with tiny brushes, 
and for that they are called *' Little Masters " ; and 
" among the Dutch painters who are known by the 
name of Little Masters," Doodle continued, '' no 
one takes higher rank than Vermeer of Delft. He 
painted very few pictures, but these few are greatly 
prized. Vermeer is famous for his treatment of 
light and for his beautiful colour. He generally 
gives blue and grey tones. His subjects are simple. 
He painted the people he knew, and at their ordi- 
nary occupations. This one, for instance, shows 
a Woman Writing a Letter; and this one, which is 
considered one of the gems of the gallery, shows a 
Young Woman Opening a Window with one hand, 
while with the other she is holding a brass jug. 
Her bodice is buff, her skirt dark blue and she 
wears a large w^hite hood and a linen collar. 



228 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

Another picture by one of the Little Masters that 
they enjoyed was Metsu's Visit to the Nursery. 
Dirk Hals's Children Playing Cards and Girls with 
a Cat also delighted both Jack and Nora hugely. 

" Here is a master, claimed by both the Dutch 
and Flemish," said Doodle, " who painted in what 
is called a broad style. I want you to remember 
the name of Frans Hals, because he is one of the 
greatest of all portrait painters." 

Then they went to study the Portrait of a Lady 
and that of Michel de Wael, and the two portraits 
of Herr Bodolphe and his wife, and Doodle made 
the children stand a long distance off and look at 
these works and then come close to the pictures and 
see the few slaps of paint that give the illusion of 
a hand or a mouth or a nose or a hat, or glove, ruff 
or cuff. They were perfectly astonished. Then 
passing through Room 25, where a group of mis- 
cellaneous pictures are hung, they went to Room 26 
to see Frans Hals's great picture of The Painter 
and his Family. 

They were rather tired by this time and Doodle 
thought it better to omit all the other collections 
on this floor. 1 

As they reached the grand stairway, the children 
caught sight of the figures in Japanese armour in 
the long corridor (No. 8). 

" Oh ! what are these ? " exclaimed Jack, fasci- 
nated by the fantastic appearance of these efligies 
of Oriental soldiers. 

" Oh yes ! let us stop and look at them," acqui- 
esced Doodle. " Indeed they are most interesting. 
They are specimens of Japanese armour. 

" In the history of every country there are 
two periods — one of myth and legend before 



METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 229 

people begin to keep a record of events as they 
occur. In their myths the Japanese say that they 
came from the Sun-God and the Moon-Goddess, 
but their real history begins about the Fifth Cen- 
tury. From the Twelfth Century down to about 
1867 the Japanese did not change their habits or 
customs. You know the Emperor, or Mikado, who 
ruled over the country, ranked first, and next came 
the barons who were called daintios. The various 
daimios had great or small estates, and each daimio 
was a sort of little king with subjects or tenants of 
his own, of var^'ing rank. 

" In Old Japan the words soldier and gentleman 
were one and the same; and the military class was 
called the Samurai." 

" Who did they fight with? " Jack inquired. 

" They fought the Coreans ; they fought the 
Chinese ; and they also fought each other ; and until 
the Sixteenth Century (when the Portuguese 
introduced fire-arms), they fought with swords and 
bows and arrows; and now I suppose you would 
like to know something about their armour. At 
first they wore leather armour and afterwards ar- 
mour of bronze and other metal. 

** This one, for instance, is one of the earliest 
suits and dates from about the year 1000, or, if you 
like better, nearly two thousand years ago! The 
coat-of-mail is made of boiled leather which is 
arranged so as to look like fish-scales. The shoul- 
der guards are also of boiled leather and so is the 
mask, which represents a Tengu, or god of the 
mountain. 

" Now this suit was made nearly three hundred 
years later and dates from 1280. This is a com- 
plete suit of iron covered with black lacquer. In- 



230 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

stead of leather scales bands of metal are now used. 
Do you notice the little brown rabbit on the helmet ? 

'' The idea of a Japanese soldier was to look as 
ferocious as possible, and that is why these suits of 
armour that we are now looking at are so terrible. 

'' The most elaborate armour was made of metal 
scales and plates tied together with ornamental 
cords of coloured silk or leather. These cords were 
of the greatest importance. Now, for instance, this 
suit dating from 1630 has fastenings of white silk. 
White is the colour of mourning and the man who 
wore this believed that he would perish in the serv- 
ice. Here is another suit lacquered in red — the 
colour of the fire demon, and dates from about 1600. 

" In Japanese armour the helmet was often orna- 
mented with a dragon or crest of some kind rising 
from the centre, or a decoration branching out on 
each side like the horns of some animal. The Jap- 
anese helmet was intended to give the warrior a 
fierce and grotesque appearance, and this was inten- 
sified by lining the inside with red to reflect the 
face. The face was also protected by a kind of 
visor or mask which was separate from the helmet 
and attached to it by strings. Sometimes it cov- 
ered the whole face having holes for the eyes and 
nostrils and sometimes only the cheeks and face 
below the nose. The masks were named accord- 
ing to the kind of countenance that they repre- 
sented — swallow-face, monkey- face, old man's 
face, wrinkled face, woman's face, young boy's 
face, ghost, evil demon, female demon, Corean's 
face, all of which were intended to give a hideous 
and deceptive appearance to the wearer. Some- 
times hair — black, red or grey — was placed on 




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METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 231 

upper lip, chin and cheeks of the mask or hair was 
painted on the metal. 

'' You can imagine that those who owmed such 
splendid suits of armour valued them highly and 
took great care of them. Every separate piece w^as 
wrapped carefully in silk, or cloth-of-gold, and was 
then placed in a rich chest of lacquer or costly 
wood and decorated with bronze or gilt ornaments. 
This handsome coffer was in turn encased in a big 
leather box, also decorated with bronze: and it is 
because of the great care the Japanese took of 
their armour that suits have been preserved for cen- 
turies. 

" There — see they are beginning to close the 
museum — so we really must hurry away." 

" What a fine afternoon we have had," said Nora. 
" I enjoyed it so much." 

" I think I liked the Natural History Museum 
better," said Jack. 

" Oh, I didn't," said Nora, " I like the pictures/* 



CHAPTER X 
MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE PARKS 

IN WHICH DOODLE POINTS OUT THE HISTORICAL 
LANDMARKS AND DELIGHTS THE CHILDREN WITH 
SOME ROMANTIC STORIES OF THE HUDSON RIVER 
UNTIL THE GOBLIN OF THE DUNDERBERG CALLS 
UP A THUNDERSTORM THAT SENDS THEM SCUR- 
RYING HOME. 

" Morningside Park is much larger than it 
seems," said Doodle, one afternoon when the happy 
trio stood looking over the parapet above the wide 
stairway across the sea of houses that stretches far 
away into the distance. " It is half a mile long, 
and, though it is very narrow, it contains thirty- 
two acres. We are on the eastern slope of Bloom- 
ingdale Heights. South of us lies Central Park, 
and on our right, the Cathedral of St. John the 
Divine. We are now looking over the battlefield 
of Harlem Heights. Shall I tell you something 
about that battle?" Without waiting for permis- 
sion. Doodle continued : 

" During the Revolutionary War, in September, 
1776, it was decided that the American Army should 
move northward; and so, on the 13th of that month, 
a rear guard of 4,000 men was left in New York 
under General Putnam, while the main body of the 
American army, followed by a number of American 

232 



MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE 233 

families, moved towards Mount Washington and 
Kingsbridge. 

" General Washington made his headquarters at 
the Apthorpe House on the Bloomingdale Road. — 
But wait a minute, I must tell you something about 
Bloomingdale. Bloomingdale was originally an 
old Dutch estate along the Hudson River above 
Seventy-seventh Street; and the Bloomingdale 
Road ran along from the lower part of the city to 
•Harlem. It was described as * a country drive of 
unsurpassed beauty up hill and down dale, varied 
with many a curve and at short intervals enlivened 
with an enchanting view of the Hudson.' The Ap- 
thorpe House, the home of a rich English gentle- 
man, was situated at what is now Columbus Avenue, 
between Ninetieth and Ninety-first Streets. 

" Well, to resume the story : — as the troops 
marched along, a sort of skirmish with the British 
took place; and when General W^ashington heard 
the firing, he jumped on his horse and rode down 
the Bloomingdale Road into the Kingsbridge 
Road and reached a cornfield where the frightened 
soldiers came flying along. He tried to bring them 
to order, but the panic was too great; and so Gen- 
eral Washington was forced to order a retreat. 
Under the guidance of Major Aaron Burr, how- 
ever, the scared soldiers reached Harlem safely; 
and W^ashington then selected as his headquarters 
the house of his old friend, Col. Roger Morris, who, 
having remained true to the British, had fled into 
the Highlands on the Hudson. His house is still 
standing on 169th Street, not far from High 
Bridge. Washington's army was, therefore, on 
Harlem Heights, and the British army, on Bloom- 
ingdale Heights; and the two hostile camps were 



234 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

divided by Harlem Plains. We looked over part 
of this scene some time ago, you remember, when 
we took a drive in the cab around the Concourse 
in Central Park; and now we are looking upon it 
again, from another point of view. 

" The British General, Howe, made the Beekman 
House on Turtle Bay (East River between 44th 
and 46th Streets), his headquarters, and his troops 
were encamped in a line extending from Horn's 
Hook (89th Street) across the island to Bloom- 
ingdale. 

*' After spending the night out of doors on Har- 
lem Heights, the American troops were informed 
the next morning that the British were approach- 
ing by McGowan's Pass (you remember we were 
there ourselves in Central Park) to Harlem Plains 
and they bravely met them at a rocky gorge and 
held it until re-inforcements came. General Wash- 
ington, who was at the Morris house, rode to his 
outpost and gave orders to Colonel Knowlton to 
take his Connecticut Rangers with Major Leitch's 
three Virginia companies to the rear of the enemy, 
while a pretended attack should be made in the 
front. The battle was short but severe. The 
British were triumphant, and so General Washing- 
ton thought it best to order a retreat. During the 
conflict both Colonel Knowlton and Major Leitch 
were killed. Bravely fighting, they fell right here 
in Morningside Park — about Ninth Avenue and 
One Hundred and Nineteenth Street." 

''What became of the British after that?" Jack 
inquired. 

'* They strengthened McGowan's Pass and placed 
strong pickets — you know what pickets are — in 



MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE 235 

front of their lines, and brought around vessels to 
guard them in the Harlem and Hudson rivers." 

" What did Washington do? " 

'' He stayed on Harlem Heights for three weeks, 
and then took his army into the Highlands of the 
Hudson." 

''Did they have any more battles?" asked the 
bloodthirsty Jack. 

*' Oh please don't tell us anything more about 
fighting," pleaded Nora, '' I don't like battles." 

'' Yes; there was the Battle of White Plains in 
October; but I am not going to tell you about that 
now; for we want to cross over to Riverside Park." 

Walking up Morningside Avenue, to One Hun- 
dred and Sixteenth Street, they soon found them- 
selves passing Columbia University. As the chil- 
dren wanted to know something about the history 
of this institution. Doodle told them that Columbia 
was originally a British school, known as King's 
College until the Revolution, when, of course, it 
became American. 

'' King's College w^as a riverside college just as 
Columbia now is," continued Doodle. '' The orig- 
inal building occupied the land between Murray 
Street, Barclay Street, Church Street and West 
Broadway, and the ground sloped down to the Hud- 
son River. In 1775, the building was used for a 
British Prison. After the Revolution its name was 
changed to Columbia, and in 1857 the college re- 
moved to Madison Avenue and 49th Street. Now 
Columbia again overlooks the Hudson. 

" Well, never mind Columbia University and its 
fine buildings, for here we are in Riverside Drive, 
which follows Riverside Park from Seventy-second 



2z(i THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

to One Hundred and Thirtieth Street. It is con- 
tinued beyond the Park to One Hundred and Fifty- 
second Street. Riverside Park is much larger than 
Morningside Park, you see. The two features of 
the Park are the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, 
and Grant's Tomb which is now looming up before 
us. 

" The only mausoleums to which Grant's Tomb 
may be compared," Doodle went on to say, '* are 
Napoleon's in the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, 
where that great general sleeps on the banks of the 
Seine just as the American hero sleeps on the shores 
of the Hudson, and the wonderful Taj Mahal at 
Agra, under whose dome lie the bodies of Shah 
Jehan and his wife. The bodies of General Grant 
and his wife rest here in two red porphyry sar- 
cophagi. You can see the two big stone coffins 
from a circular opening in the main floor, and you 
can go down into the crypt, if you like. Shall we 
go inside? " 

" I don't want to," said Nora. 

" Neither do I," Jack assented. " It is so nice 
outside." 

'' Shall I tell you some more about the Tomb, 
then?" 

" Oh yes ; and about General Grant, too," the 
children replied together. *' Well, then, in the first 
place this great Tomb was paid for by the people 
of the United States; some of them subscribed 
thousands of dollars and others only a few cents; 
and it took many years to build this great monu- 
ment to the memory of the great American general, 
who brought the terrible war between the North 
and South to a close. 

" The Tomb was finally completed and dedicated 



MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE 237 

on April 2.^, 1897, with impressive ceremonies. 
There were also a big naval parade and a military 
parade. The Mayor of New York made a speech 
in accepting the monument on behalf of the city; 
President McKinley made an address and General 
Horace Porter another ; and there were flowers and 
wreaths and music and crowds of people. Many 
distinguished guests were also present, and all of 
General Grant's family including Mrs. Grant, who 
now lies beside him." 

The children were too fascinated by the charm 
of the lovely river sparkling and shining in the sun- 
light which touched the trees on the opposite hills, 
and which was so gay with sailboats and yachts 
and excursion boats, to wish to leave it for a mo- 
ment. Heavy clouds, however, were gathering in 
the west, and occasionally the Palisades in the dis- 
tance were darkened by a floating cloud ; but this 
play of light and shade only added to the charm 
of the afternoon. Jack and Nora now asked Poo- 
dle to tell them something about the river. Doodle 
suggesting that they should seat themselves com- 
fortably on one of the benches, began : 

" In the far distance to the north, almost 
directly ahead of us at about One Hundred 
and Seventy-sixth, and One Hundred and 
Eightieth Streets, lies Fort Washington, which 
in Revolutionary days was a strong earthwork 
covering several acres with a sort of citadel 
inside which contained the powder magazine. 
Fort Washington was a strong fort in its day be- 
cause it mounted twenty cannons besides smaller 
pieces, while the redoubt beyond it at Jeffrey's Hook, 
Fort Tryon (at about One Hundred and Ninety- 
fifth and One Hundred and Ninety-sixth Streets) 



2s8 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

had only two guns. Still further along the river, 
at Spuyten Duyvil Kill (Two Hundred and Twenty- 
seventh Street) there stood another little fort of 
only two guns, called Cock Hill Fort. 

" Nearly opposite Fort Washington lies Fort 
Lee, or Fort Constitution; and three or four miles 
below Fort Lee at the base of the Palisades, was, in 
Revolutionary times, a little village called Bull's 
Ferry. Below the village on Block House Point 
stood a block house, which General Wayne at- 
tacked on one occasion when he captured some 
cattle; and the witty Major Andre made fun of this 
expedition in his poem called The Cow Chase. 
General Knyphausen held Fort Washington at this 
time and Lord Cornwallis held Fort Lee. 

" Our river is not only famous for the historic 
events that took place on its banks, but for its beau- 
tiful scenery, which has inspired many quaint and 
romantic legends. Its waters travel the long dis- 
tance of three hundred miles to reach the ocean. 
Henry Hudson, whose name it now bears, appro- 
priately called it " the River of the Mountains." 
Its Indian name was Shatemuc. The Dutch called 
it Mauritus, for Prince Maurice of Nassau, and 
the North River, because it formed the north bound- 
ary of their possessions. As we look north, the 
Palisades extend on the west bank from Hoboken 
to Piermont, nearly opposite Dobb's Ferry on the 
east bank; and there the river spreads out into the 
beautiful Tappan Zee. Beyond this is Haverstraw 
Bay, and beyond that the Highlands — a cluster 
of wild, thickly wooded, rock-ribbed, and pictur- 
esque mountains. Beyond these again and to the 
west are the famous Katzbergs, or Catskill (Cats- 
creek), Mountains, which the Indians called by a 



MORNINGSIDE AND MVERSIDE 239 

prettier name — Onti-Ora, meaning Mountains of 
the Sky. 

" And so the beautiful river above which we are 
now walking comes down from the hills, passing 
places that have witnessed stirring deeds and bat- 
tles, and whose names are familiar in song and 
story and legend. True or not, everybody associ- 
ates Spuyten Dyvil wdth Washington Irving's story 
of Governor Stuyvesant's trumpeter, Anthony Van 
Corlear, who lost his life while attempting to swim 
across the river at this point, in spite of the devil. 
Stranger than he, is a little Dutch goblin who is said 
to haunt the Dunderberg (Thunder Mountain) in 
the Highlands. He w^ears trunk hose and a peaked 
cap and has a speaking trumpet in his hand, through 
which he gives orders in Dutch for fresh gusts of 
wind and sharp thunder claps. At his command 
many little goblins play all sorts of tricks on the 
sailors when the storms are raging on the river. 

** But you don't have to go as far up the river 
as the Dunderberg to see phantoms," continued 
Doodle, noting the look of intense interest in the 
eyes of both Jack and Nora. " A Phantom Ship, 
for instance, comes down as far as Hoboken. Yes ; 
past the very part of the river we are looking upon. 
Shall I tell you about her? " The children nodded 
and Doodle went on as follows : 

*' One summer afternoon some three hundred 
years ago, great purple clouds gathered over the 
little town of New Amsterdam, clustered round the 
Fort, with its tiny houses and gardens and canals 
and its few sail boats lying at their wharves. These 
purple clouds grew darker and darker until they 
became almost black, and the waves came rolling 
in from the Bay and the wind blew hard, and the 



240 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

yellow lightning cut through the sky, and the thun- 
der crashed and banged, and everybody was terri- 
fied. You have seen just such storms in New York 
in the summer. After an hour or so, the storm 
gradually subsided and finally ceased altogether and i 
the setting sun broke through the clouds and turned 
all the waves that were still running high and beat- 
ing against the Battery to ruby and gold and ame- 
thyst. Then, all of a sudden, in this fairy-like 
light, a ship was seen coming up the Bay. She 
was a big Dutch ship with a high poop and bore the 
Dutch colours at her mast head. All her sails were 
set and bellying with the wind, and what was most 
strange of all was that she was sailing against the 
wind and tide. 

" All the people came out of their little houses 
to look at her and she was hailed from the Fort — 
but she made no reply. She took no notice of any- 
thing or anybody, but went flying up the Hudson. 
Then some of the men got a boat and rowed after 
her, but just as soon as they got near her — she 
seemed to fly like the wind and get half a mile 
away. When they finally succeeded in getting near 
enough to see the crew, they noticed that every- 
body was dressed in the Dutch style, the officers 
wearing doublets, high hats and feathers. Not a 
word was spoken by anyone on board ; indeed, they 
all stood motionless as statues. The ship seemed 
to be managing herself — she kept on flying up the 
river, getting smaller and smaller in the evening 
sunlight, until at length she disappeared altogether. 

" The people of Manhattan were very much puz- 
zled. They talked over the strange occurrence ; but 
they shook their heads — they could not under- 
stand it at all. 







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MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE 241 

" Day after day and week after week went by, 
but the Phantom Ship never came back down the 
Hudson. Captains of sloops seldom arrived with- 
out having some tale to tell about that Phantom 
Ship: sometimes she was seen near the Palisades; 
sometimes off Croton Point; and sometimes skirt- 
ing the Highlands; but she was never seen above 
the Highlands. Sometimes they saw her during a 
thunderstorm, when a flash of lightning showed 
her flying across the Tappan Zee, or over the angry 
waves of Haverstraw Bay. Irving says : 

" * At one moment she would appear close upon 
them, as if likely to run them down, and would 
throw them into great bustle and alarm; but the 
next flash would show her far off, always sailing 
against the wind. Sometimes in quiet moonlight 
she would be seen under some high bluff of the 
Highlands, all in deep shadow, excepting her top- 
sails glittering in the moonbeams ; by the time, how- 
ever, that the voyagers reached the place, no ship 
was to be seen; and when they had passed on for 
some distance and looked back, behold! there she 
was again, with her top-sails in the moonshine ! ' 
At least that was the tale the skippers told. 

" One strange thing about this boat was that she 
was never seen except just before or after a storm ; 
and for this reason the skippers of the Hudson 
called her the Storm Ship. 

" Even now she is supposed to come down the 
river as far as Weehawken and Hoboken; but she 
particularly haunts the Tappan Zee, the Highlands 
and Point-no-Point. People who live along the 
river fancy that they see her on moonlight nights 
and think they hear the singing of the crew." 

*' What do they say the ship is ? " asked Jack. 



242 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

" Some people say it is the Flying Dutchman; 
others, that it is the Half-Moon, with Henry 
Hudson and his crew, going to, or returning from, 
their revels in the Catskill Mountains." 

"What did they do in the Catskills, Doodle ?'* 
asked Nora. 

" Why, they played ninepins. Don't you fe- 
member the story of Rip Van Winkle ? " 

" No, I don't remember it/' Nora answered. 

" Well, perhaps Jack w^ill tell it to us ? " 

" No, I can't tell it," said Jack. " All I know 
is that Rip V^an Winkle went to sleep and slept for 
a hundred years ; but I don't remember about the 
ninepins. Won't you tell us the story, Doodle ? " 

'* All right, I will. We will sit here on this bench 
and look on the beautiful Hudson, the very waters 
of which have just come down from those haunted 
mountains, where poor old Rip slept for twenty — 
not a hundred — years, Jack." 

'' Well, then I'll begin. A few years before the 
Revolution, while New York was under the British 
rule, there lived in a little Dutch village at the foot 
of the Catskill Mountains, a simple-hearted, good 
natured man, named Rip Van Winkle. Everybody 
was fond of him except his wife; and perhaps she 
had some reason on her side because Rip was 
very lazy, and spent most of his time at the tavern; 
and when not there, talking with his neighbours or 
playing with the children of the village. He let 
his farm dwindle away, acre by acre, until he only 
had a little patch of ground left; and this little patch 
of Indian corn and potatoes was full of weeds. 
The fence was all dropping to pieces; and it was 
the most dilapidated place in the neighbourhood. 
His two ragged children. Rip and Judith, ran wild ; 



MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE 243 

and his wife's terrible temper grew worse. Every- 
body took sides with Rip Van Winkle because he 
was so amiable, and blamed everything that went 
wrong on Dame Van Winkle. 

" The village children screamed with joy when- 
ever Rip was seen: he played games with them; 
he told them long stories about witches and Indians 
and ghosts; he taught them how to fly kites and 
shoot marbles; and they followed him wherever he 
went, hanging on to his coat, climbing on his back 
and playing all sorts of tricks on him. All the 
dogs of the village liked him, too ; and his own dog, 
Wolf, was his constant companion, and shared in 
many a scolding from Dame Van Winkle. Some- 
times Rip would take a gun and stroll into the woods 
with Wolf. 

" One beautiful autumn day Rip and Wolf went 
out squirrel-shooting, and they gradually climbed 
the top of one of the mountains. Rip was tired and 
laid himself down on the edge of the precipice. 
In the distance he saw the Hudson river lighted by 
rays of the setting sun and he began to think how 
late it would be before he could get home. What a 
scolding he would receive from Dame Van Winkle ! 

" As he was about to go, he heard a voice calling : 
' Rip Van Winkle ! Rip Van Winkle ! ' 

*' Rip was perfectly astonished. The call was 
repeated. Then Wolf bristled up, gave a low 
growl, and peered fearfully down into the glen. 

'* Rip was now frightened himself; for, looking 
in the same direction that Wolf was staring, he 
saw a strange figure climbing the rocks, bending 
under the weight of something on his back, a pe- 
culiar-looking creature — short and squat, with 
thick bushy hair and a long grey beard, dressed in 



244 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

the old Dutch style — a cloth jerkin with a leather 
belt and baggy breeches with buttons down the sides 
and bunches of ribbon at the knees. He bore a 
keg on his shoulder, and made signs to Rip to come 
and help him carry it. 

" Rip did so; and as they clambered up the moun- 
tains, every now and then long rolls of what Rip 
thought was thunder were heard. Presently they 
reached a wide cleared space — and what do you 
think Rip saw? A company of persons like his 
guide, playing ninepins. 

" They certainly were a peculiar lot. One of 
them had a big head and little eyes like a pig; and 
another had an enormous nose and wore a great 
white hat shaped like a tall cone and ornamented 
with a little red cock's feather. All had long 
beards. The tallest, who seemed to be the com- 
mander, wore a doublet, a broad belt, a high crowned 
hat and feather, red stockings and high-heeled shoes 
with big rosettes in them. All were very grave and 
silent. Not a word was spoken, and not a sound 
was heard except the rolling of the balls. 

" As Rip and his guide approached, they stopped 
playing and gazed at Rip with such a fixed stare 
that his heart almost stopped beating and his knees 
knocked together. Rip's guide now emptied the 
keg into large flagons, and made signs that he 
should wait upon the others. Rip was too fright- 
ened not to obey; and, after they had all enjoyed a 
good drink, they began to bowl again; but not a 
word had broken the terrible silence. 

" Pretty soon Rip took a taste for himself. It 
was good Holland gin, so he tasted some more 
when the others were not looking, and then more. 



MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE 245 

and more, and more, until finally he dropped into 
a deep sleep. 

" When he awoke, he found himself on the green 
knoll where he had first seen the old man coming 
up the glen. The morning was bright and the birds 
were twittering. Rip was surprised to think that 
he had slept the night through after his experience 
with the party playing ninepins. He felt very stiff 
and he was amazed to see how long his beard had 
grown. When he picked up his gun, the rusty old 
thing dropped to pieces. Then he whistled and 
shouted for Wolf; but no Wolf appeared in re- 
sponse. 

" Though dreading to meet his wife. Rip picked 
up his old gun and hobbled down the mountain. 
The path by which he had ascended, how^ever, was 
now so overgrown that he could hardly find his way. 
How strange! 

" As he entered the village, he saw a number of 
unfamiliar faces, and everybody was wearing clothes 
of a new fashion that Rip had never seen. Every- 
body stared at him in such a peculiar way. What 
could it all mean ? The village had entirely changed 
in the night! There were rows and rows of new 
houses and new signs and names were to be seen on 
all sides. 

"Of course, the first thing Rip did was to go 
home ; but to his surprise the roof had fallen in and 
all the windows were broken and there was no 
Vrouw Van Winkle to be seen, or heard. 

" Then Rip hurried off to the tavern ; and this, 
too, was changed. Instead of the old sign, with a 
portrait of King George the Third, there was one 
of General Washington in blue and buff, with a 



246 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

cocked hat; and in the place of the big tree beneath 
which Rip was accustomed to smoke his pipe there 
stood a tall Liberty Pole from which fluttered a flag 
of stars and stripes that he had never seen before. 

" Rip could not understand it at all. What a 
change since last night. He asked for his old 
friends and was told that some were dead, and 
some had gone away. Then he could not under- 
stand what the people were talking about. He had 
never heard about Bunker Hill, the heroes of '76, 
elections, congress, liberty and all such topics. 

" Then he couldn't understand why nobody knew 
him. After a time he noticed a young woman 
carrying a little boy in her arms, whom she called 
' Rip ' ; and on asking her who she was, she told 
him that she was the daughter of Rip Van Winkle, 
who had gone into the Catskill Mountains twenty 
years ago and had never been heard of since. Rip 
then explained that he was her father; and when 
Judith was really satisfied that this was true, she 
took him home to live with her, her husband and the 
little grandchild who was named for him. Cross 
old Mrs. Rip was dead; and Rip lived happily ever 
afterwards. 

" So that is the famous story of Rip Van Winkle, 
and I must add that the people who live on the 
Hudson like to fancy, when they hear the thunder, 
that Henry Hudson and his crew are playing nine- 
pins in the mountains." 

" What became of Wolf ? " asked Jack. 

'' Wolf ? Oh ! Rip's daughter told him that Wolf 
came home the morning after Rip disappeared." 

" Listen," said Jack, " listen ! Don't you hear 
them playing ninepins now ? " 

" I certainly do," answered Doodle, as a long 



MORNINGSIDE AND RIVERSIDE 247 

heavy roll of thunder resounded in the distance, 
'* and, moreover, the black clouds are gathering 
fast. The Goblin of the Dunderberg is evidently 
calling up a storm, so I think we had better stop the 
next stage and get home as fast as we can/' 

" So do I," said Nora. 

" Here it comes! " cried Jack, " here it comes! " 



CHAPTER XI 
A TRIP TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 

IN WHICH JACK AND NORA ENJOY A BLOW ON THE 
BAY ; VISIT THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD ; 
AND ARE REMINDED BY DOODLE THAT THE GREAT 
CITY OF NEW YORK WAS ONCE THE LITTLE TOWN 
OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 

"Jack! Jack," called Nora excitedly, one bright 
afternoon as she looked out of the window. 
"There's the red flag!" 

" Oh, jolly ! " cried Jack. " Let me see ! " He 
ran to look ; and, in a few minutes, they were across 
the street in Doodle's study. 

Perhaps you have guessed that the red flag was 
a signal. You are right. It was. In fact there 
were three signals — three pretty little silk flags 
made by Nora's skilful little fingers. One was a 
yellow flag, with N. for Nora, worked in the upper 
left-hand corner; the second, was red, with J. in 
the corner, for Jack; and the third was light blue, 
with D., for Doodle, in the same corner. When 
Doodle placed the yellow flag upon the window- 
sill in the little stand that Jack had made for the 
pole, which was about the size of a lead pencil, 
the children knew they could come over whenever 
they pleased, or not at all, as they pleased; when 
Doodle's flag was hoisted, they were forbidden to 
come under pain of death, for it told them that 

248 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 249 

Doodle was at work and could not be disturbed; 
but when Jack's red flag appeared, it conveyed the 
message : " Hurry across, for I want to see you at 
once. Special and important business ! " 

Therefore, on seeing the little red flag waving in 
the breeze this bright afternoon — over the street 
they flew. 

" I am going to take you to call on a lady," said 
Doodle, very mysteriously, as they arrived. 

" A lady ! " exclaimed the children. 

"Yes; a lady!'' 

" Who is she ? " asked Nora. 

" Where does she live ? " asked Jack. 

" Do we know her ? " asked Nora. 

" Have we ever seen her ? " asked Jack. 

" One question at a time, if you please," Doodle 
beseeched. "Yes; you have seen her. She is a 
French lady ! " 

" A French lady ! " exclaimed Jack. 

" Oh, we are not dressed well enough to go call- 
ing," said Nora. 

" Oh, yes you are," replied Doodle, " she won't 
even look at you." 

" Won't look at us ! " 

" No." 

" Won't she speak to us ? " 

" No." 

" Not speak to us ! " exclaimed Jack, in perfect 
astonishment. " I don't think she is much of a lady 
then, if she won't speak to people who come to see 
her." 

" Yes ; and such charming people as we are, too," 
added Doodle, " it is strange ; but what I tell you is 
true. She will neither look at us, nor speak to us." 

" Well," laughed Nora, " Doodle says she is a 



250 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

French lady, so if she did speak, it wouldn't be any 
use. We couldn't understand her." 

" I can say ' Bon jour, Madame/ " said Jack. 

'' So can I," said Nora, *' but that's not enough 
for calling talk." 

" Are you going to speak to her, Doodle ? " asked 
Jack. 

" No." 

" Will she shake hands with us ? " asked Nora. 

*' Heaven forbid ! " cried Doodle. 

Nora and Jack stared at one another. 
• "Does she know that we are coming?" asked 
Jack. 

" No." 

" How are we going? " asked Nora. 

" In a boat." 

" In a boat ! " they both exclaimed. " How 

I" 



nice! 



Come along, then," said Doodle. 

" Is she handsome? " asked Nora. 

" Very." 

" Is she tall? " asked Jack. 

" Enormous," laughed Doodle. " Do come along, 
children. Yes, of course, those gloves will do " (to 
Nora, who was looking critically at her hands), 
" and so will yours," (to Jack, who at once began to 
look at his). " Come along." 

Not a word more would the provoking Doodle 
say on the subject when they got into the Subway 
train at Fiftieth Street. 

" We'll get out at Grand Central, perhaps," said 
Jack. 

" I guess Twenty-third Street," said Nora. 

These stations were passed, however; and then 
Nora and Jack watched every succeeding one with 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 251 

interest. Still they went on and on until* they 
reached South Ferry. It was not until they were 
ncaring Battery Pier that the puzzle was solved. 

'' Oh, I know who the lady is," laughed Jack, 
"she's Miss Liberty!" 

''Oh, dear," laughed Nora. "Of course, she 
can't shake hands." 

"Do you know how big her hand is?" asked 
Doodle. " You'll never guess. It is over sixteen 
feet long, and the index finger is eight feet — two 
feet longer than a tall man." 

" Good gracious ! " exclaimed Jack. ' 

" Good gracious ! " echoed Nora. 

" How big do you think her eye is? Two feet, 
seven inches across." 

" Good gracious ! " laughed Nora. 

" Good gracious ! " echoed Jack. 

" Her mouth — a whole yard long — three feet ! " 

" Good gracious ! " screamed the children. 

" Her nose ? — four feet, six inches." 

" Good gracious ! " said Nora. 

" Longer than I am tall," said Jack. 

" From chin to brow our goddess measures 
seventeen feet, three inches." 

" Good gracious ! " the children layghed. 

" Forty persons can stand in her head and twelve 
persons in the torch." 

" Good gracious ! " exclaimed Nora. 

" Are we going up? " asked Jack. 

" If you want to; yes, I think I can stand it," said 
Doodle, not remembering the 154 steps with over- 
much enthusiasm. 

The Falcon was at the dock; and so they soon 
found pleasant seats; and, having a little time 
to spare, Doodle asked : " Shall I tell you something 



252 



THE CHILDREN'S CITY 



about the statue while we are waiting for the boat 
to start ? " Reading assent in the four bright eyes, 
Doodle began : 

" You know that France is a Republic like our- 
selves and that the pleasantest and most friendly 
relations have always existed between the two 
nations. So when this country was about to cele- 
brate the first hundred years of its existence, the 
French people thought it would be a very nice thing 
to present some memorial — in other words to send 
a birthday present. This idea was first discussed 
in the home of M. Laboulaye at Glavigny, near 
Versailles; and in 1874 the Union Franco-Ameri- 
caine was formed to collect subscriptions and ar- 
range matters. Soon the plan and model for the 
Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was of- 
fered by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who was al- 
ready a famous sculptor. The French people sub- 
scribed a hundred thousand francs for the statue; 
people of the United States subscribed three hundred 
thousand dollars for the pedestal; and the United 
States Government gave Bedloe's Island for the site. 

" The arm with the uplifted torch was the first 
part to be finished and this was exhibited at the 
Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 and 
the head was exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 
1878. When completed, it was set up in Paris and 
on July I, 1880, was formally delivered to the 
American Minister in Paris. Then it was shipped 
to New York in 210 cases, and set up and unveiled 
in New York Harbour on Oct. 28, 1886. 

" The statue is made in separate plates of thin 
hammered copper and these are all fastened to an 
immense iron truss-work that was designed by the 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 253 

famous engineer, Eiffel, who afterwards made the 
great Eiffel Tower in Paris. M. Bartholdi worked 
on this splendid statue for twenty years; and it is 
nice to think that his was the hand that drew 
aside the curtain and unveiled the noble figure to 
the New World. 

" There she stands in the snows and rains of 
winter and the hot suns of summer looking towards 
the Old World. At night her diadem sparkles and 
her great torch glows with light, just as the sculptor 
imagined her. When looking upon the beautiful 
bay in 1870, he said : 

" * We will rear here, before the eyes of the 
millions of strangers seeking a home in the New 
World, a colossal statue of Liberty; in her up- 
stretched hand the torch enlightening the world; in 
her other hand the Book of Laws, to remind them 
that true liberty is only found in obedience to law; 
and the people of France shall present the statue in 
memory of the ancient friendship subsisting be- 
tween the two countries.' 

" There is very little danger of her being destroyed 
as was the Liberty Pole in the Common to which 
she seems in some sort of fashion to be the sequel; 
and woe be to him who attempts it. 

" So much for the history. Now for the statue 
itself. Do you know that Miss Liberty is the larg- 
est statue ever made? " 

" Why no ! " both children replied. 

" Well, it is. It is three times taller than the 
famous Colossus of Rhodes, which was one of the 
Seven Wonders of the World. The Statue of 
Liberty is often called the * Eighth Wonder of the 
World.' We are so accustomed to seeing it that 



254 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

we rarely think of what an astonishing work it is 
— wonderful in idea; wonderful in size; wonderful 
in majesty." 

'' How big is it, Doodle? " asked Jack. 

" From low water to the tip top of the torch it 
is 305 feet, II inches, but the statue itself stands 
151 feet, I inch from base to torch. It weighs four 
hundred and fifty thousand pounds, or, if you like 
better, I will say two hundred and twenty-five tons. 

'' I suppose I had better tell you something now 
about Bedloe's Island, to which you see we are hur- 
rying," continued Doodle, after a pause. " Some- 
times it is called Liberty Island, but the old name 
still clings to it, which is that of its owner Isaac 
Bedlow, who bought it from the Indians and made 
such a pretty place of it that in 1670 the Governor 
of New York issued an order to Isaac Bedlow 
stating that in consideration of the improvements 
made by him on the island it should be called Love 
Island and no arrests could be made or warrants 
served on it without the Governor's special consent. 

'' After Bedlow's death, Love Island was sold to 
Captain Kennedy of the British army, who paid 
£100 pounds for it, — that is $500. 

" In 1750 New York bought the island and in 
1800 the United States Government took possession 
of it. It had been used for a pest-house and now 
it was used for a fort. When the Government de- 
cided to give it for the site for the Statue of Liberty, 
the old star-shaped walls of the Fort were followed 
for the walls of the pedestal, which makes such a 
fine effect." 

" We're going! We're going! " cried Jack. 

" Yes ; now we are off. That is Ellis Island on 
our right, where the immigrants are landed; and 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 255 

that is Governor's Island on our left; and that is 
Bedloe's Island, to which we are going, at the very 
entrance of the Harbour." 

" Why is it called Governor's Island, Doodle ? " 
asked Jack. 

" Because the old Dutch Governors and the Eng- 
lish Governors after them used it as a sort of 
pasture-land for their cows and coach horses. In- 
deed, Lord Cornbury liked it so much that he built 
a fine mansion upon it. It was not always called 
Governor's Island, though. The Indians called it 
Pagganck, a name meaning nuts, because there were 
such splendid groves of walnut, chestnut and hick- 
ory, and so the Dutch translated the Indian name 
and called it Nutten Island. Wouter Van Twiller 
bought it from the Indians for himself in 1637 and 
when he went back to Holland, it became the prop- 
erty of the Dutch Government. 

'* During the war of 18 12 it was turned into a 
battery and fort and old Castle Williams — that old 
brown plum cake — • was erected on the lower end of 
the island to command Buttermilk Channel. Dur- 
ing the Civil War, Castle Williams was used as a 
dungeon for Confederate prisoners — at one time 
a thousand were held there. Governor's Island is 
being much enlarged by artificially made land, and it 
covers considerably more than sixty-five acres. It 
is now the headquarters of the Military Depart- 
ment of the East and is the residence of the com- 
manding general. A fitting place for the landing- 
stage of air-ships. Governor's Island will always be 
remembered as the starting-stage of Hamilton's 
thrilling flight to Philadelphia. 

" Oh ! what a beautiful afternoon this is! " And 
indeed it was a beautiful afternoon, one of those 



256 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

bright days in the early autumn when the light seems 
to be made of molten gold. There had been a storm 
the day before and the waves were very restless and 
high and of a dark blue; and very few clouds were 
in the sky. Bay and river were alive with boats 
of all kinds — tugs, sail-boats, motor-boats, yachts, 
ferry-boats, excursion-steamers. Several great 
ocean liners were also starting for their voyages. 
In fact, the Falcon had to pick her way rather slowly 
at first to let the Mauretania pass. The children 
were fascinated by this great ship, and ran to the 
other side of the Falcon to watch her gliding along 
so rapidly towards the sea. Then they became in- 
terested in watching Miss Liberty growing bigger 
and bigger as they approached Bedloe's Island. 

The first thing of course, after docking, was to 
make the ascent. 

What a perfect view met their eyes! Facing 
the ocean, they looked across the Upper Bay 
through the Narrows towards the Lower Bay and 
out to sea where they still saw the Mauretania 
leaving behind her a gauzy black veil of smoke. 
Doodle explained that New York Harbour consists 
of two Bays separated by Staten Island and be- 
tween them, a little strait or passage — only a mile 
wide at one place — called the Narrows, guarded 
by forts. On the Staten Island side are Fort 
Wadsworth and Fort Tompkins; and opposite, on 
the Long Island side, Fort Hamilton guards the 
entrance, while, off the shore, on an artificial is- 
land, stands Fort Lafayette. Below the Narrows, 
are the quarantine stations and Sandy Hook with 
its big lighthouse; and off Sandy Hook, Scotland 
Light Ship — twentyrfive miles from New York. 

On their right, the Jersey shore presented its long 




o 






o 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY , 257 

line of docks and its host of chimneys and oil tanks; 
and beyond Bayonne lay Staten Island, cut from 
the mainland by Kill van Kull. On the left and 
nearly opposite Bayonne, lay Bay Ridge and be- 
low it, Fort Hamilton. Nearer to Bedloe's Island 
are Gowanus Bay, Red Hook and Governor's Is- 
land, embraced by Buttermilk Channel, which runs 
into Wallabout Bay where the Navy Yard is situ- 
ated. Facing north, of course Governor's Island 
now lay on the right; Paulus Hook on the Jersey 
side, on the left; and, directly north, Ellis Island 
and the noble Hudson as far as the eye could reach. 
And what a splendid view of New York, too, with 
all the tall buildings massed together! 

'' It looks like a giant's castle," said Jack. 

'' I think so, too," said Doodle. 

*' And now," said Doodle, when they were again 
seated in the boat for their return voyage, " I have 
another interesting thing to tell you about Bedloe's 
Island. It was the spot where pirates were 
hanged ! " Jack's brown eyes fairly burned with 
excitement as he looked at Doodle doubtfully. 

*' Yes, it is true," replied the latter. " There 
were plenty of pirates in these waters, let me tell 
you. Captain Kidd was one of them, you know; 
and Giles Shelley was another; indeed^ New York 
Harbour swarmed with them." 

" Was Captain Kidd hanged on Liberty Island? " 
asked Jack. 

" No ; he was caught and hanged in London, at 
Execution Dock on the Thames ; but he was a very 
familiar figure in New York and had a nice house 
here. New York Harbour has been the scene for 
many great events in navigation," continued Doo- 
dle, " and many famous ships have anchored in 



25S THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

these waters since Henry Hudson's Half Moon 
passed through the Narrows and astonished the 
Manhattan Indians. Robert Fulton's Clermont 
made her first voyage here in 1807; the steam-frig- 
ate, Fulton, made her trial trip to Sandy Hook in 
1 8 14; here came the first ocean-steamers, the Siriiis 
and the Great Western, in 1838; and here came the 
Great Eastern, which laid the Atlantic cable. These 
shores have also welcomed all the record-breaking 
packet-ships and steamships that made their trips 
across the ocean, lessening time, and, therefore, the 
sense of distance, from year to year. War-ships, 
squadrons, fleets and pleasure-yachts have come and 
gone and come again, so that indeed we may say 
our noble river is filled with phantom vessels and 
that the ghostly Storm Ship, of which I told you the 
other day, is only one of many visions we may see 
if we have eyes for such things. 

" But enough of the past, dear children, let us 
enjoy this beautiful present. See what pink and 
gold the sunset clouds are throwing down upon the 
restless waves and how they swing and sway and 
reflect these colours in a hundred ways. See how 
the golden light strikes that little sail-boat and 
turns it into a fairy craft, fit for Oberon himself; 
see how the long plume of smoke from that little 
tug is turned to a veil of rose ; look, they have now 
lighted Liberty's torch, which shines like a blue star 
that has fallen on the earth, and now her diadem 
begins to sparkle, too; and see, in the distance, the 
tall buildings are shining and gleaming like rubies 
and fire-opals as the light from the sky falls upon 
their windows; and what is that cobweb thrown 
across the East River? Was it made for Queen 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 259 

Mab, do you think ? Is it now receiving a chain of 
golden beads, for, one by one, the lights appear ? " 

" Why that is only Brooklyn Bridge," explained 
Jack. 

" It looks like a fairy structure to me," said Doo- 
dle. " And now, as we are about to land on Man- 
hattan Island again, and see before us those tall 
buildings that seem to reach into the very sky and 
in which thousands of persons are busy all day, is 
it not hard to recall the fact that this was once the 
little Dutch city of which I told you and of which I 
showed you pictures? Yes; this was once Fort 
Amsterdam, with its tiny little houses and gardens 
clustered around the Fort, the West India Com- 
pany's houses and the low-roofed church of St. 
Nicholas. 

" The great New York on which we gaze has 
certainly lost all likeness to the little walled town, 
whose gates were locked every night at sunset and 
unlocked every morning at sunrise by the Burgher 
Watch, w^ho beat their drums and carried their flags 
of orange and blue, never dreaming of such won- 
ders as Elevated and Subway railways, automobiles 
and air-ships. 

" The New Netherland that was swinging at her 
dock, 800 tons, was the biggest ship they ever saw, 
or could ever imagine. What would they think if 
they could have seen the Mauretania of 32,000 
tons that passed us this afternoon? What would 
they have said if anyone had told them the ocean 
could be crossed in five days, or that an air-ship 
would fly from Nutten Island? What would they 
have said to a tunnel under the Hudson River and 
another through the city to Long Island? They 



26o THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

would have considered such things dreams of the 
insane. 

" Here where the old Dutch citizens and their 
wives strolled, or sat at their doors, or in their prim, 
trim gardens, smoking and knitting; here where 
they skated in winter ; held their fairs in the autumn ; 
and enjoyed their picnics and May-games in the 
spring and summer are the stations of the Elevated 
and Subway trains and offices of the steamships 
that have turned the ocean into a ferry from the 
Old World to the New. 

'' Do we not live in a wonderful age and do we 
not live in a wonderful city? A city only three 
hundred years old, but having outstripped every 
other city in the world in size except London! 
And how many changes has our city passed through 
until it has become the city which in our walks and 
trips and talks we have tried to know? 

" One thing alone remains unchanged — the great 
ocean that sends its delicious salt breezes into our 
crowded streets to bring us life and health. Be- 
yond the Narrows, it swings and heaves under the 
sun and moon and starry skies as it did when those 
great reptiles we saw in the Natural History Mu- 
seum roamed over the plains and hills; as it did 
when the Red Men peopled the dark shores of the 
bay and river and darted over the waves in their 
swift canoes; as it did when the Sea-Mew brought 
Peter Minuit to buy from them the Island of Man- 
hattan. 

" I wonder what our city will be like three hun- 
dred years from now," said Doodle, " and what 
will be its fate ! " 



APPENDIX 

DIRECTIONS FOR REACHING THE MUSEUMS AND 
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST DESCRIBED IN THIS 
BOOK, WITH OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION. 

CHAPTER II 

The New York Aquarium, in Battery Park, is 
open daily including Sunday (with the exception of 
Monday forenoon) from 9 A. m. to 5 p. m., April- 
October; and from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. November- 
March. Admission free. It is reached by any El- 
vated, Surface or Subway line running to South 
Ferry. 

Exhibits of living fishes, aquatic reptiles, marine 
mammals and invertebrates. 

CHAPTERS IV AND V 

The New York Zoological Park is open daily 
from May i to November i, from 9 a. m. until half 
an hour before sunset, from November i to May i, 
from 10 A. m. until half an hour before sunset. 
It is free except on Mondays and Thursdays when 
an admission fee of twenty-five cents is charged and 
it is free on all holidays and on Mondays and 
Thursdays when holidays fall on those days. Tick- 
ets are sold only at the entrance gates. Take Bronx 
Park Express Subway train to Terminus at West 

261 



262 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

Farms i8oth Street; or the Third Avenue Elevated 
to Fordham Station, from which the northeast en- 
trance is half a mile distant due eastward on Pel- 
ham Avenue, and reached by the Union Railway- 
surface cars. 

" The Green Cars." — From Fordham and High 
Bridge, and also from the corner of Third Avenue 
and i8oth Street, the green trolley cars of the new 
Interborough line pass the Crotona (southwest) 
Entrance and run within one block of the Fordham 
Entrance. 

Via the Harlem Railroad. — Another way to 
reach the Park from lower New York is the Harlem 
Railroad from the Grand Central Station to Ford- 
ham Station, (twenty-five cents for the round trip), 
whence a carriage may be taken to the Park at a 
fare of twenty-five cents for each person. The 
running time between Fordham and 42d Street is 
about twenty-five minutes. 

Routes for Automobiles or Carriages. — Via Cen- 
tral Park, Lenox Avenue, Macomb's Dam Bridge 
and Jerome or Washington Avenues to Pelham Av- 
enue, thence eastward to the Concourse Entrance, 
where motor cars are admitted to the Park. 

The Service Building, No. 28, situated near the 
Reptile House, contains the ofBces of the Director, 
Chief Clerk and several other Park of^cers, work- 
shops and storerooms. 

Children lost in the Park, and property lost or 
found, should be reported without delay at the Chief 
Clerk's office in this building. 

Wheeled Chairs can always be obtained at the 
entrances, by applying to gatekeepers, or at the of- 
fice of the Chief Clerk, in the Service Building. 



APPENDIX 263 

The cost is 25 cents per hour; with an attendant, 
50 cents per hour. 

Exhibits of Hving mammals, birds and reptiles. 

CHAPTERS VI AND VII 

New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park. Mu- 
seums open free daily in summer from 10 a. m. to 
5 p. M. ; in winter from 10 A. M. to 4 :30 p. M. 
Conservatories open free daily from 10 a. m. to 
4 p. M. Grounds always open. 

The Garden is reached as follows : 

I. By the Harlem Division of the New York 
Central and Hudson River Railroad to Bronx Park 
Station. 

II. By the Third Avenue Elevated Railway to 
the terminal station of that road at Bronx Park. 

III. By the Subway, Lenox Avenue and West 
Farms branch with transfer at 149th Street and 
Third Avenue to Elevated Railway, thence to Bronx 
Park Station. 

IV. By trolley car on Webster Avenue to 2C)Oth 
Street or the Woodlawn Road. This line connects 
with lines from the western part of the Bronx on 
Kingsbridge Road, and on Tremont Avenue, and 
also with the line to Yonkers. 

V. By trolley line on the White Plains road east 
of Bronx Park from West Farms, Williamsbridge, 
and Mt. Vernon, connecting with lines from the 
eastern part of the Bronx at West Farms and at Mt. 
Vernon. 

VI. By driveways in Mosholu Parkway from Van 
Cortlandt Park; from Pelham Bay Park through 
Pelham Parkway; through the Crotona Parkway 



264 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

and Southern Boulevard from Crotona Park ; there 
are also driveway entrances at 200th Street, conven- 
ient for carriages coming from Jerome Avenue; at 
Newell Avenue, at the northern end of the Garden, 
for carriages coming from the north; at Bleecker 
Street on the eastern side of the Garden for car- 
riages coming from the east ; and at the Woodlawn 
Road, convenient for carriages coming from Yon- 
kers, and from other points west and northwest of 
the Garden. 

Exhibits of hardy herbaceous plants, shrubs and 
trees; tropical and temperate zone plants; plant 
products, fossil plants ; etc. 

CHAPTER VIII 

American Museum of Natural History, Seventy- 
seventh Street, from Columbus Avenue to Central 
Park West. Open daily, except Sundays, from' 
9 A. M. to 5 P. M. Sundays from i to 5 p. m. 
Always free. 

A Kindergarten, in which children receive in- 
struction in subjects relating to Natural History, 
is held on Wednesday afternoons and all day Sat- 
urday. 

Take Sixth or Ninth Avenue Elevated Railway 
to Eighty-first Street, or Subway to Seventy-ninth 
Street; also reached by all surface cars running 
through Columbus Avenue or Central Park West. 

Exhibits of meteorites, American woods, stuffed 
and mounted animals and birds, skeletons of ante- 
diluvian animals, minerals, gems, shells and ethno- 
logical collections illustrating the customs of various 
races of North and South America. 



APPENDIX 265 



CHAPTER IX 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Central 
Park, with the main entrance on Fifth Avenue at 
Eighty-second Street. It is open daily, from 10 
A. M. to 6 p. M., in Summer (Saturdays to 10 p. m. ; 
Sundays from i to 6 p. M.), in Winter to 5 p. m. 
> On Mondays and Fridays only, an admission fee 
of 25 cents is charged (except to members and 
copyists). 

The Fifth Avenue stages pass the door and the 
Madison Avenue surface cars are one block east. 
Connection with the Subway is made at Forty-second 
Street, and with West Side cars at Fifty-ninth and 
Eighty-sixth Streets. The nearest Third Avenue 
Elevated Station is at Eighty-fourth Street. 

The Library, opening out of Gallery 14 (first 
floor), is free for reference daily, except Sunday, 
from 10 A. M. to 5 p. M. 

The books number 18,000 volumes; the photo- 
graphs, 27,000. 

A restaurant is in the Basement on the northwest 
side of the main building. Meals are served a la 
carte from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; table d'hote from 
12 M. to 5 p. M. 

Collections of paintings, sculpture, Egyptian, 
Greek and Roman antiquities, metal-work, wood- 
work, furniture, tapestry, lace, armour, etc., etc. 

CHAPTER XI 

Statue of Liberty Excursions. 

The iron steamers Falcon and H. S. Caswell leave 
Battery Pier, near the Aquarium, for Bedloe's Is- 



266 THE CHILDREN'S CITY 

land, New York Harbour, every day in the year at 
every hour on the hour, from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. 
Round Trip, 25 cents. Take any elevated, or sub- 
way, or surface car to South Ferry. Admission free 
to statue and fort. Cafe and Restaurant at New 
York prices. 



THE END 



INDEX 



Adder, Gray Death, no 

Adder, Puff, 109 

Adder, Purple Death, no 

Agathosma apiculata, 145 

Agave, 140, 141 

Age of Mammals, 190 

Age of Reptiles, 187, 189-90 

Agouti, 117 

Air-plants, 148 

Air-ships, 259 

Albany, 6, 7 

Alexander and Diogenes, 220 

Alice in the Looking-glass, 

quotation from, 53 
Allamanda, 136 
Alligators, 105 
AUosaurus, 188 
Almshouse, The, 24 
Aloes, 138, 141 
Alpacas, 129 
Amaryllis family, 135 
Amblypoda, The, 191 
American soldiers, 23 
Amsterdam, 5, 6, 7 
Anaconda, 108, 150 
Andre, Major, 238 
Anemone, Sea, 40 
Angel-Fish, 39, 41-42 
Angler, The, 46 
Animals, stuffed and 

mounted, 181, 184 
Annelids, 50 

Ant-eater, Great, n&-n9 
Antediluvian flowers, 162 
Antediluvian trees, 161 
Antelopes, 125 



Apthorpe House, 233 
Aquarium, The, 29-53, 261 

definition of, 30 

visitors to the, 32 

water-supply, s^ 
Arab Fantasia at Tangiers, 

213 
Arabian Nights, 217 
Arcal Mountain Sheep, loi 
Arctic Queen, 104 
Arion, Rescue of, 219 
Arion, Story of, 219 
Arizona Candle, 141 
Armadillos, 118-9, 191 
Arms of Amsterdam, The, 8 
Aroids, 136, 143 
Arrow-root, 136 
Astor Place, 24 
Athene, stories of, 196, 197 
Atlantic Cable, 258 
Atoll, 173 
Auk, Great, 179 
Australian acacias, 147 
Azara Dog, 116 



B 



Balloon, The, 224 
Balsam, 142 
Bamboo, 135, 143 
Bananas, 14^ 
Banyan, 137' 
Bank of Amsterdam, 5 
Barbados Nut, 143 
Barnum's Circus, 180 
Bartholdi, F. A., 252, 253 
Bastien-Lepage, 224 
Battery, The, 2Z 



26y 



268 



INDEX 



Battery Parade, 31 

Battery Park, 24, 30, 31, 37 

Bayonne, 257 

Bay Ridge, 257 

Beach-fleas, 36 

Bears, 102-4 

Beavers, 98 

Bedloe's Island, 252, 254, 255, 

256, 257 
Bedlow, Isaac, 254 
Beebe, Mr., 85, 91, 122 
Beekman House, 234 
Beetles, 185 
Bees, 185 
Begonias, 143 
Bellini, Giovanni, 226 
Binturong, 116 
Birds, groups of, 177 
Bird of Paradise flower, 144 
Birds of Paradise, 181-2 
Bison, European, 80 
Block House Point, 238 
Bloomingdale Heights, 232 
Bloomingdale Road, 233 
Blower, 46 
Boa Constrictor, 108 
Boa, Sand, 108 
Boa, Tree, 108 
Boas, 108, 150 
Bonheur, Rosa, 216, 223 
Botanical Gardens, 132-162, 

263 
Botanical Museum, 132, 159- 

62 
Boston Harbour, destruction 

of tea in, 21 
Boston Port Road, 17, 75, 77 
Bottle Brush Tree, 146 
Boucher, 219 
Bourget, Le, 213 
Bowling-Green, 16, 22, 24, 25 
Brazil Nut, bad behavior of, 

155 
Bread-fruit, 137 
Bride fish, 43 
Bridewell, The New, 24 
Bridge Street, 16 



British, Evacuation of the, 

23, 75 
Broad Street, 10, 16, 17, 24 
Broadway, 15, 16, 24, 25 
Brontosaurus, 187-8 
Bronx Park, 132-162 
Bronx River, 132 
Brooklyn, 15 

Brush, George de Forest, 213 
Buffaloes, 77, 177 
Bull's Ferry, 238 
Burgher Watch, 259 
Burr, Aaron, 233 
Bushmaster, iii, 150 
Butterflies, 184 
Buttermilk Channel, 255, 257 



Cactus family, 138-40 
Cactus, Giant, 141-2 
Cactus, Hedgehog, 139 
Cactus, Old Man, 139 
Cactus, Turk's Cap, 139 
Calla Lily, 136, 143 
Camellia, 146 
Cameloids, 129 
Camels, 129 
Camphor, 146 
Canal Street, 15 
Canna families, 144 
Capybara, 116-7 
Cape's Tavern, 23 
Carrion Flowers, 138 
Carrot, wild, 157 
Cassava Bread, 153 
Cassique, Crested, 178 
Castle Garden, 31 
Castle Williams, 31, 255 
Cat animals, feeding of, 115 
Cathedral of St. John the 

Divine, 232 
Catskill Mountains, 238, 242, 

246 
Central Park, 54-78, 232 

Arsenal, 56, 57, 61 

Ball Ground, 64-5 

Belvedere, 68 



INDEX 



269 



Central Park — (continued) 

Bethesda Fountain, 63 

Block House, 73-5 

Bow Bridge, 65 

Casino, 72 

Cave, 68 

Concourse, 73, 234 

Conservatory Pond, 71, 75 

Deer-park, 58 

East Drive, 60, 61, 72 

Esplanade, 6s 

Gates, 58-9 

Green, The, 65 

Harlem Mere, 75 

Lake, The, 63, 64, 65 

Lily Pond, 73 

Making of, 55-8 

Mall, the, 61, 63 

Mariner's Gate, 68 

Marble arch, 62 

McGowan's Pass Tavern, 75 

Menagerie, 57, 61 

Music Pavilion, 62 

North Meadow, 73 

Pond, 60-1 

Prince of Wales's Oak, 62 

Ramble, 58, 67 

Reservoir, New, 72, 76 

Reservoir, Old, 68 

Size of, 55 

Sparrows, 67 

Statues and busts, 58, 61, 
62, 67 

Swans, 65-7 

Terrace, 62, 63, 64, 65 

Trees, 59-60, 62-3 

West drive, 60-73 
Charles the Second, 14 
Chenille Plant, 143 
Children Playing Cards, 228 
Chocolate tree, 137 
Cleopatra's Needle, 70 
Clermont, The, 25, 258 
Clinton, Sir Henry, 22 
City Arms Tavern, 19 
City Hall, Old, 15, 19, 21, 22, 24 
City Hall, present, 24 
City Hall, illumination of, 26 



City Hall Park, 24 

City Tavern, 10 

Civet Cats, 116 

Century plants, 135, 141, 151 

Cereus, Night Blooming, 139- 

40 
Coati-Mundi, 118 
Cobra-de-Capello, 109 
Cobra, King, 109, 203 
Cobra, Spectacled, 109 
Cockatoos, 82 
Cock Hill Fort, 238 
Cocoanut Palm, 135 
Cocoanut, Sea, 147 
Coco de Mer, 147 
Coenties Slip, 10, 15 
Collect, The, 15, 2^ 
Colossus of Rhodes, 253 
Columbia University, 235 
Columbines, 158 
Common, The, 19, 20, 21, 22, 

24 
Condor, 93 
Congo, 96 

Conservatory, 133-151 
Conservatory Court, 150 
Copper Lady, 185 
Corals, 173 

Corlear, Anthony, Van, 239 
Cornbury, Lord, 255 
Cornwallis, Lord, 238 
Corstiaensen, Hendrick, 7 
Cortlandt Street, 24 
Cot, P. A., 217 
Couture, 215 
Cow Chase, The, 238 
Cow Fish, 39, 43 
Crab, Hermit, 48, 49 

Horse foot, 49 

Saucepan, 49 
Crane, Sandhill, Dance of 

the, 122 
Crane, whooping, 121 
Cranes, 121-2 
Croton Point, 241 
Croton Water, 26 
Crotons, 143 
Cruger's Dock, 20 



270 



INDEX 



Crystals, 192 
Curassow, 90-1 
Custard Apples, 143 



Eyck, Jan van, 211 
Eye, emblem, 204 



D 



Daret, Jacques, 226 
Day Dreams, 215 
Deer, American, 130 
Deer, European, 89 
Defence of Champigny, 222 
Desert plants, 138-42 
Dessoug, The, 70 
Detaille, 222 
Diamond, Cullinan, model of, 

192 
Dinoceras, The, 191 
Dinosaur, 186 
Dragon Plants, 136 
Drill, The, 49 
Drum, The, 45 
Ducks, 90 

Dupont, Gainsborough, 219 
Dupre, Jules, 224 
Duke of Richmond and 

Lenox, 225 
Dunderberg, Goblin of the, 

239, 247 



E 



Eagle, Bateleur, 120 

East India Company, 5 

East River, 20 

Echinoderms, 49 

Edward, The, 20 

Egypt, 203 

Egyptians, Gods of the, 204 

Egyptians, relics of the, 203-4 

Eland, 125 

Elephants, 96-7 

Elgin Marbles, 198 

Elk, Irish, 191, 192 

Ellis Island, 254, 257 

Erie Canal, 25 

Eskimos, 167, 175-7 

Eucalyptus, 146 

Eyck, Hubert van, 211 



Falcon, The, 251, 256 

Federal Hall, 24 

Fer-de-Lance, iii 

Ficus parasitica, bad behavior 
of, 156 

Fields, the, 19 

Fig-trees, 136 

Fish, feeding of, 34, 35-38. 

Fishes, number of fishes in 
the Aquarium, 32 

Fish, sick, 34 . 

Flamingo, 91 

Flip, 104 

Floating Fern, 143 

Florentine Lady of the Fif- 
teenth Century, 225 

Flowers, Fairy, 158-159 

Flying Dragon, 183 

Flying Dutchman, The, 242 

Fort Amsterdam, 8-9, 10, 11, 

259. 
Fort Clinton, 31 
Fort Constitution, 238 
Fort George, 16, 22, 23, 24 
Fort Hamilton, 256, 257 
Fort James, 14 
Fort Lafayette, 256 
Fort Lee, 238 
Fort Tompkins, 256 
Fort Tryon, 237 
Fort Wadsworth, 256 
Fort Washington, 237, 238 
Fortuny, 213 
Fossil Butterflies, 161-2 
Fossil insects, 162 
Fossil plants, 160-1 
Four-eyed, fish, 43 
Fried land 1807, 221 
Frugal Meal, 1 ne, 214 
Fulton, Robert, 25, 258 
Fulton, The, 258 
Fraunces Tavern, 16, 23 
Free Bridge Dyckman's, 17 



INDEX 



271 



Fresh Water, The, 15, 25 



Gage, General, 22 
Garden, In the, 213 
Gautier, quotation from, 214 
Geckos, 113 

George III., Statue of, 22 
Gerome, 217 
Ginger plant, 144 
Ginseng, 143 
Giraffes, 124-5 
Girls with a Cat, 228 
Glyptodons, 191 
Gnu, white tailed, 125 
Goats, wild, loi 
Godyn's Bay, 11 
'Golden Hill, 21 
Golden Hill, Battle of, 21 
Gorringe, Lieut. Com., 70 
Governor's Island, 31, 255, 

257 
Gowanus Bay, 257 
Grasses, 157 

Grand Capiat, Venice, 221 
Grant's Tomb, 236-7 
Great Eastern, The, 258 
Great IV est em, The, 258 
Greek painters, story of two, 

207 
Greuze, 217, 218 
Grevilleas, 146 
Guanacos, 129 
Gum Trees, 146 
Gunda, 61, 62, 93, 94 
Haida Canoe, 175 
Hakeas, 146 
Half-Moon, The, 6, 242 

H 

Hals, Dirk, 228 
Hals, Frans, pictures by, 228 
Hamilton, Mayor Isaac, 22 
Hanover Square, 17 
Harbour, The, New York, 6, 

16, 257 
Harbour, View of, 256-7 



Harlem, 233 

Harlem Heights, 73, 232, 233, 

^^ 234, 235 

Harlem Heights, Battle of, 

232-4 
Harlem Plains, 234 
Harriman Alaska Expedition, 

114 
Haverstraw Bay, 238, 241 
Haydon, 220 
Heliopolis, 69 

Hemlock Forest, 132, 133, 152 
Hemp-plants, 136 
Herbaceous grounds, 152, 157 
High Bridge, 26, 233 
Herculeum giganteum, bad 

behavior of, 156 
Highlands on the Hudson, 

. 233, 235, 238, 239, 241 
Himalayan Laughing Thrush, 

84-85 
Hippopotamus, 97-98 
Hoboken, 239, 241 
Hoofden, The, 10 
Hornaday, Mr., 86, 103, 128, 

129 
Horn's Hook, 234 
Horse Fair, The, 217, 223 
Horse, skeleton of race, 191 
Horse, three toed, 191 
Horses, wild, 94-95 
House of Cards, Miss Rich 

Building a, 219-20 
House leeks, 140-1 
Howe, General, 234 
Huariqui, 141 
Hudson, quotation from, 123- 

124 
Hudson, Henry, 5, 6, 238, 246, 

258 
Hudson River, 6, 25, 238, 257 
Hyaenodon, 192 
Hydroscope, The, 52 



Independence. Declaration of, 
22 



2J2 



INDEX 



Indians, North American, 174 
Invalides, Hotel des, 237 
Irving, quotation from, 241 
Israels, 214 



Jabiru, The, 91-92, 131 
Jack-in-the Pulpit, 136, 143 
Jaguars, 85-88 
Jail, The New, 24 
Japanese armour, 228-231 
Jeffrey's Hook, 237 
Jessamine, yellow, 147 
Jessamine, Night Blooming, 

Jesup Collection of tr^es, 109 
Joan of Arc, 224 
Jumbo, 180 



K 



Kaaba, The, 165 

Kangaroos, 118 

Kapske Point, 10 

Kapske Rock, 31 

Karnak, Temple of, 200, 203, 

207 
Kartoom, 96 
Katzbergs, The, 238 
Kennedy, Captain, 254 
Kidd, Captain, 257 
Kingsbridge, 16, 17, 233 
Kingsbridge Road, 233 
King's College, 21, 235 
King's Farm, The, 15 
Kinkajou, 116 
Knowlton, Colonel, 234 
Knyphausen, General, 238 



Labrador Duck, 179 
Landseer, 220 
Laocoon, 199, 200 
Largillierre, 218 
Last Token, The, 215 
Lear, quotation from, 112 



Lee, General Charles, 22 
Leitch, Major, 234 
Lemurs, 88 
Leonids, The, 166 
Leutze, Emanuel, 212 
Lexington, Battle of, 22 
Liberty Island, 254 
Liberty Pole, The, 20, 21, 253 
Liberty, Statue of, 251-3, 256, 

258, 265 
Lily family, 135, 157 
Lilies, South African, 138 
Little Masters, The, 227 
Lizard, Monitor, 113 
Lizards, 112-3 
Llamas, 129 
Logwood, 142 
London, 26 

Lopez, story of, 85-88 
Love Island, 254 
Lynxes, 119 

M 

Macows, 82 

Madonna and Child in Ca- 
thedral of Salamanca, 226 

Madonna and Child (Bellini), 
226-7 

Maguey, 136 

Mahogany, 142 

Maid of Orleans, The, 224 

Malabar Squirrel, 117-8 

Malayan Sun Bear, 116 

Mammals, North American, 
177 

Mammee apple, 143 

Mammoth, 190 

Manhattan Island, 6, 7, 8, 26 

Manhattan Square, 56 

Manihot, 153 

Manilla hemp, 144 

Maranta family, 136 

Marie Antoinette, 218 

Marie de Thorigny, 218 

Marmosets, 88 

Masks, Indian, 175 

Mastodon, 190 



INDEX 



273 



Mauretania, The, 256, 259 
j\Iax, Gabriel, 215 
McGowan's Pass, 75, 234 
McKinley, President, 237 
Meissonnier, 221, 222 
Melon Thistles, 139 
Meteors, 164-9 
Metropolitan IMuseum, 69, 72, 

76, 194-231, 265 
Tvletsu, 228 

Mexican archaeology, 193 
Miller's Thumb, 44-45 
Millet, 214 
Mimosa family, 142 
Minuit, Peter, 8, 56, 260 
Moccasins, Cotton ^vlouth, 

IIO-I 

Moccasin, Water, iii 
Mogul, 97 
Mohawks, The, 21 
.Mollusks, 49 
Monet, 225 
Monkeys, 88 

Montague's Tavern, 19, 21 
Montanus, quotation from, il 
Moon-fish, 39, 44 
Moose, group of, 177 
Moray, Green, 50 
Morland, Henry, 219 
Morningside Park, 232, 234 
Morphological Garden, 152 
Morris House, 234 
Morris, Roger, 233 
Mosque, Prayer in a, 217 
Mosquitoes, 174 
Mountain Goats, 126 
Mount Washington, 233 
Mummies, 204-6 
Murillo, 227 
Murine Opossum, 118 
Musk Ox, loi 



N 



Nancy, The, 21 

Napoleon, 222 

Napoleon, at St. Helena, 220 



Narrows, The, 6, 10, 22, 256, 

258, 260 
Nattier, 218 

Natural History, American 
Museum of, 163-193, 264 

Dinosaur Hall, 185 

Mineral Room, 192 

Synoptic Hall, 170 
Navesink, Highlands of, 6 
Nepenthes, 144 
Nest, big, 89 
Neuville, De, 213 
New Amsterdam, 11, 27, 239, 

259 
New Amsterdam, surrenders 

to the English, 14 
New Netherland, The, 7, 259 
New York, British in, 23 

Congress First, 22, 

Dutch, 4-13 

English, 14-19 

ferries, 15 

ferry-boats, 25 

fire in 1811, 25 

gallows, II, 24 

gardens, 18 

gas, 25 

gates, 10, 15 

Governor's House in, 16 

Government House, 24 

Greater, 27 

greatness of, 260 

houses in, 14, 15, 18 

library, first, 14 

Mall, the, 16 

modern, beginning of, 25 

newspaper, first, 14 

packet-boats, 15-16 

palisades in, 10, 15 

Parade, The, 16 

population of, 14, 24, 25, 2y 

omnibuses, 25 

Revolution, during and 
later, 19-28 

school, first grammar, 14 

size of, 26 
stages in, 15 

wealth of, 25 



274 



INDEX 



New York, yellow fever epi- 
demic in, 25 
Nicholls, Colonel, 14 
North River, 238 
Notre-Dame, model of, 200-2 
Nursery, Visit to the, 228 
Nutten Island, 255, 259 



O 



Obelisk, The, 6^-71, 72, 76, 

202 
Ocean-gardens, 52 
Oleanders, 147 
Olive, 147 
Opuntia, 139 
Orchids, 147-150 
Orchid House, 147-150 
Orchid-hunters, 149-50 
Ostriches, 119, 120, 181 
Otis, James, 19 
Otters, 128-129 
Owen, Professor, quotation 

from, 187 



Painting, Art of, 207 
Palisades, The, 22,7, 238, 241 
Palm, Fan, 147 
Palmetto, 147 
Palms, 134-5 
Parachute flower, 147 
Paradoxure, white whiskered, 

116 
Papyrus Reed, 143 
Park, The, 24 
Park Theatre, 24 
Parrots, 82 
Parrot's feather, 143 
Parrot Fish, Blue, 39, 42 
Parrot Fish, Green, 39, 42 
Parthenon, statues of the, 197, 

198 
Parthenon, The, 196-8 
Patagonian Fox, 116 
Paul and Virginia, 217 
Paulus Hook, 257 



Pawpaw, 137 

Peacocks, 127 

Pearl Street, 10, 16, 24 

Peary, Commander, 107, 167 

Peary Expeditions, 175, 177 

Penguins, 92-3 

Peruvian collection, 185 

Phantom ship. The, 239-42 

Pheasants, 127 

Phidias, 196 

Philodendron, 136 

Phcenix, The, 22 

Pigeons, 84 

Pike, 45 

Pineapples, 144 

Pino, Signor, inventions of. 

51 
Pipe-fish, 48 
Pirates, 257 
Pitcher plants, 144, 145 
Pitt, William, 20 
Plants, behavior of, 155 

Breathing of, 154-5 

Eating of, 154, 155 

Economic, 159-60 

Education of, 154, 156-7 

Insect eating, 144 

Irritable, 145 

Protection of young, 156 

Sleep of, 142, 154, 155 
Point-no-Point, 241 
Pollaiuolo, 209, 210 
Polly, The, 20 
Poppy-Held, 225 
Porcupine, 118 
Porter, Gen. Horace, 237 
Portrait painting, 211-212 
Prairie Dogs, 126 
Prickly Pear, 140 
Primitives, pictures by, 208-9, 

226 
Princesse de Conde, 218 
Province Arms, The, 2^ 
Ptarmagan, 179 
Puffer, The, 46 
Pumas, 119 
Pumpkin Seed, 45 
Putnam, General, 232 



INDEX 

Python, African Rock, 107 Sea, bottom of, 52 

Python, Regal, 107 



275 



R 



Raccoons, 102 

Raccoon, Crab-eating, 116 

Rameses II., Bust of, 203 

Ramie-plant, 143 

Ranelagh, 18 

Rattlesnakes, no 

Red Hook, 257 

Reindeer, 130 

Rhea, 121 

Rhinoceros, The, 97 

Rip Van Winkle, story of, 

242-6 
River of the Mountains, 238 
Riverside Drive, 235-6 
Riverside Park, 235-6 
Rose, The, 22 
Rosemary plants, 147 
Rosetta Stone, cast of, 202 
Rubber-plants, 136 



Sabella, 50 

Salmon, 39 

Sandhoppers, ^6 

Sand Dollar, 49 

Sandy Hook, 6, 21, 22, 256, 

258 
Sardinian Moufflon, loi, 131 
Scarab, The, 204 
School of Art, 

Definition of a, 209, 
School, American, 212 

English, 219 

Flemish, 226 

Florentine, 208 

French, 221 

Sienese, 208 

Vicenza, 209 
Schreyerstoren, The, 9 
Scotland Light Ship, 256 
Screamers, Crested, 123-124 
Screw-pines, 138 
Sculpture, 202, 206 



Sea-creatures, fantastic ap- 
pearance of, 38-39 

Sea gardens, Bermuda, 40-41 

Sea-Horses, ^7, 46-8 

Sea Lions, 89 

Sea Mew, The, 8, 260 

Sea Raven, 39, 44 

Sea Robin, 39, 43 

Sea Urchin, 49 

Sea-weeds, 160 

Seals, West Indian, 51 

Sears, Isaac, 21 

Seneca CJiief, The, 25 

Senna family, 142 

Sensitive Plant, 142 

Sequoia, 170 

Serpents, 105-106 

Serpula, 50 

Sheepshead, 45 

Shells, 193 

Shelley, Giles, 257 

Sherman, statue of, General, 
60 

Shooting-stars, 164-9 

Side-saddle flowers, 145 

Silver King, 104 

Sirius, The, 258 

Skinks, 113 

Skunk Cabbage, 143 

Snakes, 105-11 

Snakes, Tiger, no 

Snake, Two Headed, 108 

Snake, Carpet, no 

Snake, Copperhead, in 

Snake, Diamond, in 

Snakes, Water, no 

Soldiers and Sailors' Monu- 
ment, 236 

Sons of Liberty, 19, 20, 21 

South Ferry, 10 

Sower, The, 214 

Spider Crab, giant, 170 

Sponges, 172 

Spotted Hind, 39, 42-43 

Spurges, 143, 153 

Spuyten Duyvil Kill, 238 

Squid, Giant, 170-72 

Squirrel Fish, 39, 43 



276 



INDEX 



Staten Island, 256, 257 

Stadt Huys, 15 

Stamp Act, The, 19, 20 

Stapelias, 138 

Star-fish, 49 

Stickleback, 45 

Stinking Cedar, 145 

St. Christopher, 209-10 

St. John the Evangelist, 227 

St. Nicholas Church, 13, 259 

St. Nicholas Day, 13 

Stone Crops, 140 

Storer Collection, 193 

Storm, The, 217 

Storm Ship, The, 241, 258 

Strand, The, 10 

Stuart_, Gilbert, 211-12 

Student, The Idle, 215 

Stuyvesant, Governor, 14 

Submarine boat, 51, 52 

Sugar Cane, 143 

Sultana, 96 

Sun-dews, 145 

Sun-fish, 39, 45 

Surgeon, 42 

Swellfish, 46 



Taj Mahel, 236 

Tamandua, 119 

Tamarind, 142 

Tappan Zee, 238, 241 

Tapirs, 98 

Tea, Legend of, 146 

Tea-plant, 146 

Tea Ships, 21 

Tea- Water Pump, 26 

Termites, 185 

Thebes, 203 

Thistle family, 147 

Thomas a Becket, 211 

Tigers, 85 

Toad-fish, 39, 44 

Tones, 19 

Tortoises, Giant, 111-112 

Totem-poles, 175 

Touracous, 82-83 



Toxodon, 191 
Trachodons, 188, 189 
Traveller's Tree, 144 
Trees, Old, 170 
Triceratops, 186 
Trinity Church, 16, 24 
Trojan War, 199-200 
Trunk Fish, 39, 43 
Tube Worm, 50 
Turkeys, wild, 114 
Turner, 220, 221 
Turtle Bay, 234 
Turtles, 37-8 
Turtles, Elephant, 112 
Twiller, Wonter van, 255 
Tyrannosaurus, 186, 189 
United New Netherland 
Company, 7 



Vanderbilt, W. H., 70 

Van Dyck, 225 

Vanilla, 148 

Vauxhall, 18 

Veitch's Tail Flower, 136 

Venus's Flower Basket, 173 

Venus Fly Trap, 144 

Vermeer of Delft, 22y 

Vicunias, 129 

Vinci, Leonardo, da, 225 

Vipers, 109 

Viper, Sand, 109-10 

Viverrines, 116 

Volupte, 217-18 

W 

Wallabout Bay, 2^y 
Wall Street, 10, 15, 24 
Walruses, 177 
Walrus, baby, 104 
War of 1812-1815, 2^, 31 
Washington, General, 22, 23, 

233, 234, 235 
Washington, Inauguration of, 



INDEX 



277 



Washington, George, por- 

traits of, 212 
Washington, General, resi- 
dence of, 24 
Washington Crossing the 

Delazvare, 212 
Washington Heights, y^i 
Water Babies, quotations 

from, 39, 41 
Waterfall, 152 
Water Hyacinth, 143 
Water Lettuce, 143 
Water Lilies, 143, 158 
Water Poppy, 143 
Wayne, General, 238 
JVeaning the Calves, 216 
Weehawken, 241 
West India Company, 7, 8, 

9, 12 
Weepers' Tower, 9 
Whale Ship, The, 220, 221 
Whales, 183, 184 
Whigs, 19 
Whitehall, 10 

White Plains, Battle of, 235 
JVoman Opening a Window, 

227 
Woman Writing a Letter, 

227 



Y, The, 5 

Yaguarundi Cat, 115 
Yonghy Bonghy Bo, quoted, 

112 
York, Duke of 14 



Zebras, 95 

Zoological Park, 77-131, 175, 
177, 191, 203, 216, 261 
size of, 80-81 



Zoological Park — (continued) 
Alaskan House, 114 
Antelope House, 124-5 
Aquatic Bird House, 94 
Baird Court, 81, 89 
Bear Dens, 102 
Beaver Pond, 98-9 
Bird House, 81-5 
Bronx Lake, 77 
Buffalo Entrance, 77 
Camel House, 129 
Concourse Entrance, 81 
Cope Lake, 89 
Crotona Entrance, 130 
Duck Aviary, 90 
Elephant House, 95-8 
Elk Range, 130 
Flying Cage, 90, 93, 94 
Fordham Entrance, 89 
Lake Agassiz, 81 
Lion House, 85 
Llama House, 129 
Mountain Sheep Hill, loi 
Ostrich House, 119-24 
Otter Pools, 128 
Pheasants Aviary, 127 
Pony Stand, 94 
Primate House, 88 
Raccoon Tree, 102 
Reptile House, 104-11, 114, 

150, 203 
Rocking Stone Restaurant, 

80, 99, 100 
Service Road, 94, 104 
Small Deer House, 125 
Small Mammal House, 115- 

19 
Tortoise Yards, 104, 111-14 
Totem Pole, 114 
Wild Fowl Pond, 127 
Wolf and Fox Dens, 127 
Zebra Houses, 94-5 
Zoophytes, 39-40, 47, 1/3 
Zuyder Zee, 5, 9 







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